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.