This past weekend, I went to see My Best Fiend, part of the Hot Docs Film Festival, with JS and T-bone. Fantastic, very funny film about the friendship and working relationship of Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski. An added bonus was that Werner Herzog and his brother (and sometime producer) were there. Herzog spoke briefly before the film but sadly there was no Q & A afterward.
It was really great to get out with the ladies. We went to Sarah's for falafal and chicken shawarma afterward where I got to hear the details about the Sunfish's alleged crime spree at Canadian Tire...
I guess it was truly a girls' weekend. After practice Saturday morning, almost all of the women's canoe group took R.M. shopping for her prom dress. So after breakfast at Helen's, we headed to Bloor West Village. As always happens, the dress you really want isn't available in the right size but Trixie is going to order it. In any event R.M. looked great in everything she tried on so she has options. After we dropped underage R.M off at home, we went and met the coach for a beer at the Pump & Patio. The rest of the weekend meant more films to see - Look! Up in the Sky (a history of Superman) and Billabong Odyssey (surfers...uh huh.)

Today my site clocks over 1000 visitors since March 4!

Nice. Mazda Canada has supported the national canoe-kayak team for over a decade. I'm not sure when this print ad came out but I've come across it in a few publications . Anything that raises public awareness of the sport. Maybe I'll check out a Mazda for my next new vehicle...

Happy Birthday to my
good friend J.P.!

I like my new clocks but will like them better once I figure out how to display the city names.
L to R:
TORONTO-NEW YORK
VANCOUVER
POZNAN
DUISBURG
I'm really looking forward to going out with the girls on Friday night - Hot Docs and dinner and lots of catching up to do.

Super terrific karaoke...
that's right, this is what we do when it's 4:00am and the bars are all closed.

I just retrieved the 2006 Gold Book (copycat Yellow Pages) from my front lawn. Normally, I just throw it in a drawer but the photo on the front cover caught my eye - a paddler heading for the trestle. It's not the greatest photo but still...it's not a rower!

Toronto's new flatwater regatta course

I paddled on it twice yesterday and would estimate it's roughly 600m in length. Also, it tapers at the western end. When they published the width as 135m, they must have edited out, "at it's widest point". The lake was calm both times I paddled but it will definitely be nice to have this sheltered course at 5:45 in the morning when the waves are slapping the outside wall. It'll be interesting to see what kind of facilities they'll be putting in - Tower? Grandstand? I will try to find out.
I'm posting some photos of other courses for comparison. Don't be fooled by the perspective of the photos - the Toronto course is about 1/5th the size of these. In fact, you'll notice very few similarities between our course and these others.

Here's Malta Lake, the flatwater course in Poznan, Poland...

and Shanghai...

and of course Montreal...

CCA (CKC) has announced the 2006 International Tour Team composed of 27 paddlers. They'll represent Canada in World Cup competition in Poznan, Poland, May 12 – 14, and Duisburg, Germany, May 26-28, 2006.
More information is available at;
http://www.canoekayak.ca/eng_newsarticle.cfm?ID=281


The restaurant we grew to love while racing in Quebec has opened a store in Clarkson. The grand opening was last Monday. I had breakfast there the other day and it was GLORIOUS!

The inspiration for the movie Silent Hill is a real town. Guys, this town in Pennsylvania has had underground mine fires burning beneath it for the past 43 years! Am I the only person who hasn't heard about Centralia? It started when a trash fire was lit in an abandoned mine pit in Centralia in 1962. The fire ignited an exposed vein of coal and spread throughout the mines beneath the borough. All attempts to extinguish this fire have been unsuccessful. In fact, early on the governement drilled holes to check temperatures which actually provided a source of oxygen to the fire. The associated gasses and network of rich coal veins continue to feed the flames.
The story didn’t catch national media attention until Febuary 14, 1981 when the ground collapsed under Todd Domboski. A sinkhole about 4 feet in diameter and 150 feet deep had opened under him. The heat or carbon monoxide would have been sufficient to kill him instantly if he'd fallen right in but he grabbed onto exposed tree roots and was pulled to safety by his cousin.
An engineering study concluded that the fire could burn for another century or more and "could conceivably spread over an area of approximately 3,700 acres."

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

Paddler social notes:

Steve Miller and Amelia recently became engaged

Happy Birthday to Mrs. Sarge, Alyson, TB jr and Birdy

Plus I hear there's another tiny, perfect, paddler baby in the works (I rarely see the dad but will post names once I've talked to him)

The Senior men have finally returned from training camp and trials in Georgia. They leave for the World Cup tour May 8th - Poznan and Duisberg. I'm glad I've raced in Poznan - it's easier to picture things when we get the results. I will, of course, be checking out the Duisberg course on Google Earth.

Hommes - Men C-1 1000m 13:50- Course/Race #14 - A-Final

1 Mark Oldershaw 3:54.273

2 Dimitri Joukovski 3:55.781
3 Thomas Hall 3:56.057
4 Kyle Jeffery 3:57.906

Hommes - Men C-1 500m 13:50 - Course/Race #33 - A-Final
1 Mark Oldershaw 2:02.494

2 Thomas HALL 2:04.098

3 Kyle Jeffery 2:04.953

Full results can be found at 2006 National Sprint Team Trials 1

Quote of the day, "Tom Cruise is one spoke behind Michael Jackson on the freak wheel."

seen on http://www.tomcruiseisnuts.com/home.php

This is the craziest amusement park ever. I thought it must be in the southern states but it's in England. And it's not just one - it's a nation-wide chain!

http://www.diggerland.com/visiting/webcam.htm

Pick any "adult goes home for horrendous family dinner" flick and that was my weekend. And, I'd like to point out, without the great wardrobe and hot male actors. I wish I was still a kid and could put soap on the toothbrush of one of my siblings...
...and just so this isn't a completely bitter and wasted post, how about sending me the worst/best way you got back at siblings when you were kids? I'll post the best ones without names...
- two guys have emailed that they snapped off the heads of their sister's Barbie-dolls (c'mon, that's completely unimaginative)
- another stabbed his little brother with pencils and told him he would die of lead poisoning
- one guy ate all his sister's epilepsy medication
- a paddler's mom told me about putting contact cement all over her sister's hand while she was asleep and then tangling it up in her hair. They had to cut it all off.

Proof: kids are mean...creative, but mean...

I gather from A Change is as Good as a Rest that the Sunfish & friends had a great week! The surfing looked like a lot of fun and cold! I was glad to see you changed your flops to booties before you hit the surf (I'm such a mom).

In the past few days, the Eagle Cam has become progressively more difficult to connect to... I guess the link is being forwarded all over and the server can't handle the number of hits. Hopefully they'll get funding to upgrade and keep the birds online.

4 days off - we don't paddle until 8:00am tomorrow...nice! I see a breakfast at Helen's in my future. NUMBER 69, YOUR BREAKFAST IS READY!!!

This is interesting...the Eagle Cam gives you a close-up, LIVE look at a pair of nesting bald eagles on Hornby Island in B.C. This pic is an archived screenshot. When I checked this morning there were 2 eggs in the nest. It'll be a lot more interesting once they've hatched.

http://www.infotecbusinesssystems.com/wildlife/

Congratulations to Marisha (the Dish) Roman! She's been named outstanding Canadian Aboriginal Athlete and winner of the 2005 Tom Longboat Award. She's going to be in Canada's Sports Hall of Fame!
So exciting - and we have a 4 day weekend to celebrate!

Hey, the nicest guy on the planet (and one of the smartest) is building houses! Greg Secko started his business awhile ago but now has a website and monthly e-newsletter. The first issue will be discussing decks and an interior painting technique but he'd appreciate any suggestions for future issues so email him! I've added his site address to the links at right.

I'm hoping Greg can do a makeover on my house as soon as I can afford it - great location but not-so-great house. I've decided it makes more sense to change the structure than move again.

Amy H. had their baby boy sometime around noon. I'm sure he'll be a cutie like his big brother Dylan.

New link to the right...

Happy Birthday Rudderboy