I went to the visitation for Uncle Lou last night and the funeral this afternoon. So many people were there - Lou's entire extended family! Clem, Jessie, Ian, Matty and Drake, the Howes family, the Millers, the Flemings, the Brailesfords, the Drakes, Conor, Doug, Dray, Petro, Steve and Amelia (newly-engaged), Jeff P., Rico, Matt W., Paskar, Sarge, Heidi, Sean.. not to mention the huge number of friends from other areas of his life. It was sad but as the group got bigger, it became more like a family reunion. It was so great to hear how everyone's doing and what they've been up to. Most don't seem to have changed at all - still smart, dynamic, interesting and so funny. Did the Muto's know what an effect Louis had on his friends? At first they seemed overwhelmed (in a good way) that so many of us from the club were there but they must have known how popular he was - even the memorial card said "Uncle Lou'" just below his given names.
I'm not one of those who is comforted by the religious ceremony. They're self-serving and don't particularly reflect the values of the individual but a few of Lou's friends spoke at the graveside and took off the churchy edge with some personal stories. His father was happy that they were able to find a spot for Uncle Lou just a stone's throw from the Credit River.
Drake brought a Missy singlet and his parents kept it with Lou after all the paddlers signed it. Howes drove out to Burlington and got The Black to display at the reception. Ian tried to bargain with Connie Lee to keep it overnight but she was pretty firm that it had to be back tonight. Mississauga doesn't have a great reputation when it comes to taking care of The Black. The C-boaters discussed the possibility of going through each crews' tags and putting frowny-face stickers beside kayakers names but decided against it. I guess everyone has changed a little!

Everyone laughs at my love of Google Earth but what's not to love? I've looked at race courses in other countries before and after competitions and checked out the courses that friends were racing on when I couldn't be there. Not to mention looking at the Tour de France course, seven wonders of the natural and modern world, checking out directions in a new city, etc. etc...
Lately, I discovered this tour that documents the movement of The Hayward Fault in California. It moves about .35 in/yr - half the rate of the San Andreas fault. You can download it here - http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/research/geology/hf_map/GE_helicopter.htm
Tip: (the Play Tour button is F10)
Once you've opened Google Earth and the tour, use the menu at the left to open photos that detail evidence of movement - shifted curbs, streambeds and the separation caused to Berkeley's Memorial Stadium (the red line is the Fault)...I've always wanted to live in California, maybe that's why I find it so fascinating...

Is there any ad campaign worse than the radio spots the City of Vaughan is running right now? That's the one where the guy is telling an exciting story and anytime the reference should be to a sophisticated, fantastic city, he says, "so they end up in the city of Vaughan". When his friend says, "Don't you mean Paris?" he laughs and says, "Oh, right. I get all my great cities mixed up". And the tagline is, "The City of Vaughan - low taxes and high lifestyle"

Are they trying to attract the grow-ops from Durham Region to Vaughan?

Spent the afternoon with the Dish and friend Laura at the One of a Kind show. I got some great stuff but Laura took honours for the most extravagant purchase - a fantastic, large-format painting for her living room by artist Danielle O'Connor Akiyama. I stuck to earrings and a great wool jacket. Anyway, the Dish told me that there's a photo of the Beav and me on the Underground Garage's homepage. I checked it out when I got home and yep, there's the two of us with Trailer Park Boy Julian. It's from my birthday which just happened to coincide with a Puma launch party. God, my arms are huge! But then I looked at the Beav's and, same. Digital cameras...they're like bikini store mirrors - all bendy and distorting - rarely flattering. Ugh, where did I get that horrible shirt? Anyway, here's the one of the Beav and Julian but I'm also providing the link to their site because it's a great bar to check out if you're ever in Toronto... http://www.undergroundgarage.ca/
What else? Paddled a couple more times - the water is already 11 degrees. It was stupid windy yesterday though. One of those swirly, change direction ones that can be so frustrating. We also found out yesterday that the Ontario team trailer rolled on it's way home from training camp. No one was hurt and no word yet on how many boats were damaged but so awful for Connie-Lee and Adam O. who were driving it home to be here for Bert's funeral.
Weird, this post started out about my weekend but seems to be mostly about trailers.

Friends of Lou: Please scroll down to March 24th post for info about arrangements.

The weather here has been amazing since I got home and I'm not just saying that in response to the taunts coming from Sunfish on the west coast. I paddled on Wednesday night and it was too hot for the double layer of Craft shirts.
As to the comments from Mr. Purr and J.P. - I've sponsored a family of Rumanian gypsies on your behalf. They'll be arriving in May so don't bother seeding your front lawns.


Updates;
I've added a new link on the sidebar for le Viaduc de Millau. What a beautiful bridge!I wish I was driving on it everytime I check out the webcam.
I've also updated the post about Bert with some links.

Mr. Purr gets stopped going through customs...
Customs: One Swedish-made penis enlarger.
Mr. Purr: That's not mine.
Customs: One credit card receipt for Swedish-made penis enlarger signed by Mr. Purr.
Mr. Purr: I'm telling ya baby that's not mine.
Customs: One warranty card for Swedish-made penis enlarger pump, filled out by Mr. Purr.
Mr. Purr: I don't even know what this is! This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby.
Customs: One book, "Swedish-made Penis Enlargers And Me: This Sort of Thing Is My Bag Baby", written by Mr. Purr

This has been an unkind month for the paddling community. Bert Oldershaw passed away this morning.

Olympian Oldershaw passes away - TSN.ca
Canadian Olympic Committee Mourns Death Of Bert Oldershaw - Canada NewsWire
http://www.canoekayak.ca/eng_newsarticle.cfm?ID=273 - CCA














Bert and Mayor Hazel - MCC Awards Banquet 2001

I've heard that happy news is always balanced by sad but have never experienced it in such a blatant way.
I found out today that Louis Muto (Uncle Lou to everyone at MCC) died Tuesday, March 21st, when he contracted a severe case of Meningitis C while backpacking in Spain. He was rushed to hospital at 8:30am but passed away 2 hours later. He was 23.
Uncle Lou was a great guy. The word sad doesn't even cover this.

Congratulations to Louise and J.B. - their little girl, Mia Carling was born at 3.24pm on March 21st (same birthday as mom!) 5 lbs 14 oz and 18".
She's a cutie - more pics are available at;

http://web.mac.com/wyldwood34/iWeb/Baby%20Site

And not to share space on great announcements but this has been a big month for baby news. Just before I left for Florida, my longtime friend J.P. let me know that he and his wife are expecting in August. I'm VERY pleased as I've always thought they would make great parents. Never say never, Jeep.

I'm definitely making up for all those spin classes I missed this winter. Everywhere I want to go is a 90 min. bike ride (45 out and back). And going over the causeway on a windy day is almost as good as a hill climb workout at Gears. No problem though. When I get to the mall or the surf shop I calculate;
(distance travelled on bike + $$ saved on gas) = $XXX.XX to spend

Sailing yesterday was great! I'm on my way there now (the library's on the way) but may not get to go out as they're expecting a storm. . That's cool - 90 minutes riding on the Merritt Island Tropical Trail is not so bad. Yesterday there were peacocks all over the road and quite a few dolphins playing close to shore.

Since I was late getting up this morning, I met the Bulgarian housekeeper for the first time. Picture Zsa Zsa at 67. I made polite small talk while I packed my knapsack and now she's trying to set me up with her 36 year old son. Apparently he's an "engineer of the chemicals", speaks 5 languages and hates the socialists. Perfect! I thanked her but explained that I'm 46, have a 26 year old son (who sadly speaks only 3 languages) and thought that had closed the matter. Even though I had my knapsack on my back and one hand on the 'goose (my bike), she was still talking fifteen minutes later...something about how great socialism is and what's wrong with America (if you don't speak english or drive a car you are no one - NO ONE!). Cat, wish you were here for the discussion - it was pretty much one-sided and she obviously needed a counter-point. Anyway, I finally excused myself by mumbling about a medical condition that requires caffeine before 10:00am and slipped out the door. As I went, she reminded me that her boy is smart, very smart...and dresses like a rich man. Guh.

I've taken it easy for most of today but am now on my way to go sailing on the Banana River. I'm excited - I've never sailed before. I mean, I've been on boats but they've been the 40ft type with a motor for when the wind dies. This'll be a Hobie and I'll actually have to do the work. Can't wait!

I'm at the Brevard Library so can't post any photos. Weather here has been amazing and I was able to pick up a great Mongoose BMX bike for $20. at the pawn shop! Of the original 21 gears, only 1 works but the brakes are good and the tires sound, better than any of the other bikes they had (and WAY better than the $800.00 I would have had to pay to rent a car for 10 days during Spring Break!). I just got off the water (motorboat). I went out with Tamas Sr. to take some shots of the C2s on the river. As usual, it was ridiculously windy but the B brothers looked strong, as did Andrew R. and Pike. It wasn't any better in the canal but the C1s were already done by the time we got in there. Tough workout too, very little rest.
Tamas showed me some shots from Yak 4 Stack. I missed it this year which sucks because Mark and Gab outdid themselves on the costumes. Last year they were giant bananas, this year, palm trees. They were severely challenged by the wind - some of the pics are pretty funny. I'll see if Tamas can forward me some once I'm home.
I'm heading to Shagg's beach now. Besides the beach aspect, they have a Starbucks. Always an attraction here in the Land sans Tim Horton's...

As mentioned, I'm heading to Florida for my own mini-training camp on Friday. The original plan to go to Lake Lanier for March Break fell through when I couldn't find a dog-sitter. Chief, KL (Mrs. Chief) and the Burloak girls, CR and M-AS have gone down there for some outrigger, db and/or canoe-kayak. I was disappointed that I couldn't join them so when my son offered to dog-sit the following week, I decided it would be worth it even if I'm not with the rest of the group. I've booked a hotel on the beach with a pool, hot tub, gym and will buy a cheap bike for transportation. After looking around on the internet, I found a windsurfing school in Cocoa Beach and signed up for lessons. Also, because of x-box I've a renewed interest in golf and Melbourne has two public courses within bike-riding distance.
So my training program looks something like this;
early run, bike ride along the ocean to Cocoa Beach(16km), windsurf for a few hours, bike back to my hotel, have lunch, hang at the beach, then hit a bucket of balls later in the day - I can't wait! You know, at first I wasn't crazy about travelling on my own but I think this is going to be a great trip! I may even have time to update my blog so check back later...

Odds & Ends

One last look at Clem's declaration of independence before she slips off the page and into the archives.

I really just want to see if it was a coincidence that activity spiked on my site meter when I originally posted this. And I should tell you that I had Clem's full permission to post the photo before I started any of this. I think her exact words were "Go ahead! Anyone who thinks those are my real boobs is a duffus." So those who were worried that I might post near-naked photos of you without permission (you know who you are) can relax.

And regarding the Max LaR sighting at Hardwood Hills: he's no longer "X" and he's reportedly a circus performer in Montreal (a la Cirque du Soleil). I'm not making this up. And I'm not that surprised either. When we were in Montreal, he did a pretty convincing impersonation of Spiderman, climbing up the wall and across the ceiling of his apartment. I'm not making this up either.

Ms. Amazing Guns did NOT go out with hockey-lounge-lizard-guy. A good call since it turns out he's well known to others in the community.

JS reminded me of what the cashier at the Georgia jail said after we'd paid our speeding fine. Something along the lines of, "Yeah, that's our slogan: Georgia, come for a vacation and leave on probation!" Just a reminder for those of you driving to Florida.


I've been catching up on the second season of Ali G... So funny.

I finally got around to watching an animation that I've wanted to see for awhile, The Triplets of Belleville.
This feature film has everything;
stylish animation and great music, lonely orphans who grow up to be high performance athletes, 3 crazy old ladies (or are they?) and one wiley grandma, faithful dogs, obsequious maitre d's, underwater explosions, car chases, shoot-outs, the french mafia, the Tour de France and frogs.
It is fantastic! The local Blockbuster only had one copy, always a sign that it's a good movie, and it was tucked away under International Films (it's from Quebec). Anyway, it's a fabulous piece of cinematic eye candy...

A few of the guys raced in the Fischer Loppet at Hardwood Hills last weekend. You can check out their results at http://www.hardwoodhills.ca/results/06loppetxc/meet.htm . Bbod and Boog's results are under Men 30-39 20K, JR and "X" (?!) did the 40K!! Their results are in the Men 30-39 40K and 20-29 40K. Congratulations guys - impressive results! So the big question is - is Max back for good (women all over the GTA want to know) and what should we call him?

Meanwhile, from the "shooting yourself in the foot" department, North Korea "accidentally" launches two missles towards China.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,187175,00.html

Nothing much going on today so I'm just going to post random pictures. This photo makes me laugh. Nice C4 guys.

Actually, I've heard from both L B-B in NYC and MH-L in Van (not that either uses the hyphen, I just stuck it in for clarity). They're both doing great and check in here occasionally to see what's up in the neighborhood. No baby yet but I hope to have a photo and details from the B family soon.

It's not surprising that training camp has been on my mind considering the time of year. I'll be doing some Florida training on my own - runs, cycling, some time at the driving range and (hopefully) lots of surfing. The tough part is training on my own after I've been lucky to have some great training groups. We had an amazing one in Tarpon Springs in 2003, my OTHER best training camp.
We drove down in 2 cars - JS (the Sunfish), JS (gold-medal drummer), 310Del, the Running Girl, me and Andreas (who we'd all rather forget). We had a great time, munching on road food, talking on our Motorola 2-ways, right up until we hit Georgia...Yeah, two cars snagged for speeding and taken directly to the County jail. Apparently Canadians aren't always so conscientious about paying speeding fines and they wanted our cash before we hit the state line.
The Sunfish was hilarious with the state trooper...

"Can we take our picture with you?"
"No ma'am"
"Could you put us in the jail cell and take our picture?"
"No. Ma'am"
"Can I wear your hat...?"
"NO!"
"...while you take my picture?"
"Arrggh!"

Anyway, once the fines were all paid he relented. Nice Guy!

Tarpon Springs is an amazing location for both paddling and some downtime. Weeki Wachi is just an hour north while Clearwater and Dunedin are less than an hour South. (Sorry PB, the female fans requested another gratuitous Speedo shot, so you're it.)
AB, CL-B, TBjr & TT all made the trek over from Melbourne for the weekend party. What was the name of that bar? Mexicali's, Marguaritas??? No wait, I remember! Mexicano's. They LOVED us there - they gave us all hats and let us keep them. We went back the next year but they'd gone out of business (probably the high cost of hat overhead).
Some day, I'm going to get organized enough to put all these photos on a link. For now though, I think my blog is a little boring without pictures.

Ha ha. Karl's screen name "working on the speedo tan" made me think of my first year at training camp. I shared an apartment with Aly, Matty B., Howes and Karl. Those guys would not stop talking about their white Speedos. So this morning, I pulled out the photo album and there it was... the gay speedo tan picture they made me take... that was...what? like seven years ago? They have numbers written on their arms because they'd just finished the Smith-Tracey triathalon (which Karl won) - Howes was #666, Karl was #68 +1 and Matty didn't have a number because he thought they were "homos for writing on themselves with lipstick."
At first, Aly and I weren't too happy about being put in the same apartment as a bunch of adolescent boys but I have to admit, it turned out okay. Well, aside from Matty and Howes nearly being shot by the Brevard County sheriff and the 3 of them blowing up palmetto bugs in the living room with firecrackers and how many hours it took to clean up after dinner because they used water guns to wash the dishes... Oh yeah, and then there was the night they took off in my convertible and tried to pick up Hooters waitresses by hanging around the parking lot until they finished their shift...at 1:00am.
But on the flip side, they taught me to surf, cleaned up the dinner dishes, managed the palmetto bug infestation and I didn't miss my son so much while he was away in Costa Rica. They made me laugh a LOT (oh my god, that whole scene with the two sheriff's cars kicking up dust and bottoming out as they sped across the soccer field??? That is some funny stuff!). I couldn't paddle worth anything that year but 1999 definitely ranks as my best training camp ever.

Blech. Max VO2 testing - anything worse? Why yes there is - doing max strength, then Wingate, THEN max VO2 .... Felt like I was sucking sand into my lungs at the 5 minute mark. It's all mental right? So I visualized myself at the beach...

...asleep

.....face down

......sucking sand into my lungs






There's nothing that a Rootella Cookie Sandwich can’t fix.

Weird. There were tons of Russians at the dog park this morning and they weren’t all together either. Their dogs were doing normal dog things but the angry owners kept yelling at them. Or maybe they were saying, “I love my little poochy” but it just sounded like angry yelling because it was in Russian. And I'm not saying there shouldn't be Russians at the park, it's just an odd coincidence that there were so many at one time.... ....or is it?

Stuff I forgot about from Saturday night at Torino House. We met a couple of guys there. Now here’s the thing. I went with two of my attractive friends from paddling so naturally guys were drawn to our group. I overheard one of them say, on encountering us at the silent auction table, “Oh, is this a mother-daughter thing?” Now, that’s a completely understandable assumption and it didn't bother me at all. In fact, I was flattered that he believed these two were my offspring. However, a mutual acquaintance (male) tore a strip off him as soon as we were out of earshot, saying he'd insulted me. So when he approached our table awhile later, he tried a different tactic and said, “So, is this sisters' night out?” Ugh, completely insulting to everyone. On the one hand, why feel that you have to pretend that the older woman isn’t, you know, older and in so doing, infer that she is also vain and stupid? On the other, are these beautiful young women who are in their prime supposed to be flattered by a comparison to someone twice their age who is being held together by salon products and underwire???
He followed that up with what one of the girls called “speed-dating 101” where he went around the table firing shotgun style questions at each of us – name, job, sport, hobbies, max bench press (I’m not kidding) – at the end of which he chose one of the girls and said, “want to work out together sometime?” I have to admit he was smooth. We didn't have to go through the awkward what's-your-number-who's-got-a-pen-write-it-down-and-hand-it-over experience since he already knew her full name and place of employment. All he had to do (which he did after the mandatory 3 days) was call her workplace and ask for “Miss Amazing Guns”.
Oh, did I mention? He’s a hockey player.