Canada has had a pretty good day at the Olympics, there is the first Canadian multi-medal winner and three medals to the time I'm writing this blog. After the first week things seem to be better for the nation's psyche. I recall someone suggesting that the medal tally could be about 14 for Canada and if our athletes can garner just two more then the total will be reached.

It has been an Olympics of mood swings, either high or low, sometimes in the same day. During these games, people who were shoo in for medals didn't do all that well and the unknowns have come to the fore, being our new champions.

Well, still you have to give all the best of support and love to these people. A lot of themselves is left on the arena and they know they do this for love of the sport and their nation.

Im still see red about the Toronto Star and their coverage of Perdita Felicien. In a column by Rosie DiManno it was a classic hatchet job. I have never read anything more horrendous and terrible. Perdita has shown more class then most of the Toronto Star columnists.

Today was a day of new things. First of all, it was a day for a new pet. After much lobbying by the children, we have become a two pet family, actually four if you include two degus, but two if you just count animals that are allowed to roam. Yes we now have two cats. The family went to the Windsor-Essex County Human Society and chose a 'muted tortoiseshell' female cat. Our cat was feeling lonely as he lost a friend, no kidding, he and this other cat were inseperable and it is gone. We can now join with Crosby, Stills and Nash with this song Our house is a very, very, very fine house With two cats in the yard Life used to be so hard Now everything is easy 'cause of you.. The orange is for the tortoiseshell.

The second thing that came today was my Johnny Mnemonic CD, it's the soundtrack from the movie. Yes I am a fan of William Gibson and I did enjoy the movie. I got it on Ebay.ca by the way.

The third thing and this was the plunge, a Dell laptop. I bought the Inspiron 1000, okay it's not the flashiest but I ccould afford it and now I'll be posting all my blogs from it, rather then the main computer. Thank goodness for home networking. I don't have a wireless card, but that's coming I'm sure.

Well, now it's time to enjoy either the cat, the CD or the laptop.

Peace

I want to entitle this days blog "is Canada becoming a nation of the entourage?", If you can remember the events leading up to June 6th there was a huge cry that the government told those surviving veterans of the D-Day landing that if they wanted to visit Normandy it would be on their own dollar. Mind you the government was sending a large entourage of politicians, in fact both Jack Layton and Stephen Harper both told Paul Martin to give their seat on the plane to a vet.

Now I hear that those Canadian athletes who are in Athens had to get their on their own coin. Now again, I don't think a whole lot of them bought their own ticket, basically because the majority of Canadian athletes live below the poverty level. I read the the stipend for our athletes is 1100 a month. So in other words that guy stocking the shelves at Wal-Mart could be an Olympian. I know that a lot of them get sponsored by corporations such as McDonald's, the Royal Bank or their local community or athletic group make sure they have no more expenses then they already do. And you thought everyone going to a food bank was a welfare bum. I like what John Derringer of
q107 wrote in his column. His most telling remark was this: "Canada's elite athletes receive about $1,100 a month in funding, yet Toronto spends $30,000 per homeless person. Just try getting your head around that one. If a few homeless guys could run a sub-four-minute mile, at least we'd get a little something for our investment". If only. Yet I believe the COA is sending a full entourage of hacks, flacks and sycophants to Athens. Again, money for the posse, but none for the stars. At least Puff Daddy is the centre of his entourage, in Canada the real stars are pushed to the side and the jokers get all the perks.

Right now Canada has one bronze medal. Don't get me wrong, I would never slam our athletes, they are all great men and women who spend years of their live to practice their sport. They surrender a big chunk of their personal lives and potential earnings to wear the Maple Leaf. They want to support their nation, even though their government treats them worse then a bunch of terrorists claiming refugee status. That bronze medal ties us with Thailand by the way. While our athletes work hard, the Secretary of State for Sports Stan Keyes, the guy responsible for the mess tells us not to get fixated with medal counts, huh? Dude, that's why we have a medal count in the daily newspaper, we want to know how many medals we win. I know it's not we, it's a group of individuals and certainly a nation's self esteem is more then medals, but it really looks bad when a nation that is supposely as wealthy of Canada doesn't do anything in the area of sports.

Now it's not the athletes then who's to blame? Our society, I don't think so. Let's put the blame where it belongs on our beloved federal government. This bunch for the last ten years, actually eleven has been jerking our best athletes around. I suppose it could be argued they were treated no worse then everyone else during the last 11 years. Of course in Canada the best treated people are those who belong to that most exclusive of clubs "the Friends of the PM". Amateur athletics has been cut probably harder then any other program and yet while they are going to food banks and working at McDonald's, our politicians make sure their buddies are all on the gravy train. Recently Canada Post accepted the resignation of Andre Ouellett, the 2 million dollar man. The guy who had problems keeping receipts. He made 400000 a year, that would pay for 10 athletes a year @ 40000 a year. Or how about the Commissioner of the Official Languages, she sent a bill for 40000 for a trip to Sudbury. How she spent that much I don't know. Again Ottawa has an unlimited supply of cash for these dregs and none for our athletes. If you want further proof, just read this. Our beloved G-G, the Queen's Representative seems to love the Big Apple. Now let me say, I join with her on this sentiment, I too like New York, however it doesn't cost me $4800 to fly there. Multiply that by 10 and you see another example, no funds for athletes but for the parasites, the vault is open.

You may remember Dyane Adam, she's the idiot who 'investigated' Don Cherry for his comments about hockey players that wear visors. Again, another parasite on the body politic of Canada. We need less of her and more athletes who work very hard and want to represent their country on the nation stage.

Go Canada

Peace

Yesterday I did it. I completed my first dualthon. My time was 2hr15m22seconds, good enough for 91st overall. You can see where I place by going here. To give my overall, I was pleased with the run portion, both the 3k and the 6k. I was surprised I did so well with the 6k since this was always my concern. The bike, well, I'm not too happy with. I was slower then I thought even though my training runs were I though good.

It was an experience I'm glad I had and I will be going next year.

Between now and then I plan to develop a training plan. You see when I started only a month ago, I didn't really know how to train. I just biked and ran although I never did get to the place where I'd bike and then run. So I will be following some strategies and will do better next year.

In the end I did feel good, especially after taking the ASA.


Peace

Well, I've signed up and written the cheque. I had the pasta dinner at the restaurant and tomorrow I'm doing the duathlon. This is my first one and I'm both excited and nervous about the situation. I'm excited because it is my first duathlon, and nerves because I ask myself the question, am I ready.

If you want information about it go to the website. I had been complaining to myself and anyone who wanted to listen that I feel I needed a motivation to train. That had been lacking, usually I enter at least one or two races a year and that is my motivation but until a month ago I didn't think I was going to enter any race. Then I picked up that pamphlet and now I'm ready.

I suppose the big question is was the training sufficient? I know going down south didn't help matters although I did try to stay active, so it's going to be the litmus test tomorrow. I'm not worried about the distances, I've done 30k on the bike, I've run 3k and 6k. It's the transition from bike to run that still a concern. I know doing the 3 and then the bike is not a problem, its the final leg.

I went over and checked out the course, the run takes place on the Ganatchio Trail. A map of the course is on the website. There is a few inclines and declines, probably not bad but I train in Essex where the only incline and decline is the railway crossing. But tomorrow is it, I'm ready.

Yes, I'm ready. I'm just going to take it easy tonight, rest up, drink water and other liquids and have a good night's sleep.


Peace

The Globe and Mail
Here is one of those articles that begs a comment. So Andre Ouellet felt he had to resign. I love the opening quote from the Globe, here it is: André Ouellet, once one of the most powerful politicians in the country, felt he was forced to quit as Canada Post president yesterday in the wake of audit reports saying he had not properly accounted for about $2-million in expenses.
. Well, yeah. I mean if I handed in $2 million dollars of expenses to my employer and asked for reimbursement without any receipts to back it up, the response would be, a) laughter and b) a pink slip. Then again I suppose if you're the boss the normal rules doesn't apply to you. Actually Andre they do. You resigned because you knew your butt was in the sling and when Parliament reconvenes guess who's head the Opposition would be asking for. So he quits, he understands that it was all political. No it wasn't Andre, you 'resigned' because you stole and committed fraud. I'm glad you're not getting severence, inspite of your 'good' work. You claim that Canada Post became profitable under your leadership, good thing eh? Otherwise the corporation couldn't afford your lifestyle.

I think the response of all us taxpayers is simple, let's sue the idiot. As a Crown Corporation we are the stockowners and if the CEO acts in such a fraudulent way, it's upon us to teach him a lesson.

Andre you are a weazel.


Peace

Last month I mentioned the problem my brother had with his telephone bill, it appears he got that nasty dialer on his computer. It is a problem and a lot of innocent people are being sucked in and discovering they have huge long distance charges. A good resource is Phonebusters, a webpage set up by the RCMP and provincial police.

People who have been calling to complain to Bell Canada, I don't have any information on other long distance carriers, usually don't get a whole lot of sympathy. What they tell you is a) pay up, it your problem, b) we'll give you a discount now or c) we might give you a better rate of interest. They will threaten to cut off your phone if you fail to pay.

Here is some information you can use, and this is from Phonebusters. First of all, Bell has know about the problem for 4 years or so and have decided to do nothing, that is until this past weekend, now calls to Sao Tome have been cut. You have to go through an operator to make a legitmate call. This also applies to those other problem nations as well. So what do you do? Here it is, complain to Bell and inform them that you will not pay those bogus LD charges, since you are not obligated to pay for fraud. Do not pay their offered discount. Pay the rest of your bill, that is your regular charges and legitimate LD calls. They may threaten to cut off your phone but they can't. They may disconnect your LD but so what, there's only 20+ companies that will be only too glad to take your business. May I also suggest you follow through the steps on the Phonebusters page, they are very helpful. Also there's a class action suit pending against Bell, for more information go to classactionlaw.ca, and go Active Claims and then look up Bell Canada Modem Hijacking Claim. Join the fun. Also you may want to write a letter of complaint to the CRTC and fill out a complaint. I know I've been critical of the CRTC in the past but here they may be useful.

Be vigilant, scan your computer, look out for trojan horses, spyware and all that nastiness.


Peace

One of the things i wanted to do on vacation was stop at Lennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, which is a bit north of Atlanta. I had visited this sight years ago and wanted to visit it again, plus I did promise a friend some Confederate money.

It is a interesting place, the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain was part of Sherman's March to Atlanta and was a particularily nasty battle. As you can read the south did win this engagement although General Johnson did retreat rather then face being cut off by Sherman's forces. We did do some hiking and made our way to Pigeon Hill, there are some Confederate earthworks visible. At this sight there was a serious skirmish which cost the lives of hundreds. It's eerie to consider that where we stood, people fought and died. There is a hush still today when you consider that men put their lives on the line for either a cause, or for the fact they were protecting their homes from a perceived invader. On a fence was a wreath with the simple words of a state and the fact these were soldiers of the Confederacy.

It was a silent yet in the silence there was something that made it a place not to play but to mediate and consider.

Peace

Back from the trip down south. I can say it was a great time, the food was fabulous and seeing family that I haven't seen in a decade was great. Also met some new second cousins for the first time. As mentioned it was at the Elijah Clark State Park near Lincolnton Georgia. It is a delightful camp and if travels take you there, it's worth the stop. The place has cabins which quite frankly rival some hotels. At the park there is the burial plots of Elijah and Hannah Clark a small museum, hiking trails and a beach to swim at, a great place to visit.

After that we did get to Six Flags over Georgia. A fun time was had by all. There are a number of fun roller coasters, my favourite turned out to be the last one I rode, the Superman Ultimate Flight one. It is one of those flying roller coasters where you don't sit, or stand, but fly with the tracks either above you or below you. Yes you fly upside down and go through a number of loops and turns. It is great. I'm only sorry I waited until the end of the day. Other fun coasters were the Ninja and the Georgia Scorcher. I do enjoy a good coaster.

The journey home was uneventful.

Let me say it's always important to learn something and here's what I learned.

1) the waffle is king
2) the greatest invention is the waffle iron
3) Southerns are very proud of their culture
4) it is hot down south but it appears people are used to it.
5) the South is beautiful, the ugly states are Michigan and Ohio.


I know I've lost some training days but still managed to do 30k on the bike in 1hr 13 minutes. Not bad. Tomorrow I'm running.

Peace

Decided to play golf, actually I was invited so I went. I got a new driver for my birthday and this was my second opportunity to try it out. I think I did okay with it, in fact I can only think of two drives that missed the fairway. It felt nice and made a great 'ting' when it hit the ball straight and true.

Well this is it for a while, I'm taking some time to head south to Georgia. Going to a family reunion at Elijah Clark State Park. It looks like it will be a fun couple of days with a lot of family get-together and some quality time down in the sun and fun of Georgia. After that we're going Six Flags over Georgia for some serious roller coaster fun.

I'm looking forward to it and now I must pack, if only I knew what I have done with my digital camera.

Peace

I did my run for the day, another 6 km with the time of 36'47". I think that's just a touch slower then last time, although I did run a faster final 300 metres then before. I'm going to blame traffic on this one, I was held up crossing the street.

You know I wonder if we should not declare 2004 the "Year of the Salad". Seems every fast food restaurant has added salads to their menu. I notice that Wendy is doing salad up big, although this is not anything new to them, I remember going to Wendy's in the 80's and enjoying their salad bar. Yes that was a treat, baked potato and salad bar. People laughed but they were looking to the future. Then the 90's hit which was the supersize decade and now as we enter the first decade of the 21st century there is the realization we have supersized people. So salad is a good choice, plus it may stave off the inevitable lawsuits that are bound to come to the fast food industry.

Salad, always a good thing.

Peace.

Well the training continues. With the weather keeping me in for most of the day I decided to venture out in the late dusk. Thank goodness my back light still works. Decided to keep it simple, just 11.5 k today, for 30 minutes.

The most difficult part was keeping the gnats out of my mouth, I almost succeeded although there were a few crunkies as I chewed. I don't know how many flying swarms I went through but there was the distinct ping of bugs off my jacket.

Feeling good about what I'm doing.

Peace.

I got a frantic phone call, seems my brother got nailed with one of those fraudulent dialers. Seems his modem has been calling people in Estonia and Sao Tome. I just want to say to those morons who design such things, I hope your burn long and painfully. It seems more and more people are figuring there is a thrill from sticking viruses, trojan horses and other things on computers to screw people up. I read an article that said service was slow on Google because someone made a worm. Why bother. I know Google is set to have an IPO and make people a lot of money but why bother something that a lot of people use for their searches. I admit I google on a regular basis, especially if I want to look up interesting facts.

To give an example I spent an hour or so looking up information on the Chinese poet Qu Yuan . You can ask why and the answer will be because it was interesting. It started by looking for information about Rice Dumplings, which was from an Iron Chef episode. I found there is a legend attached having to do with the suicide of this poet. I also learned that Dragon Boat festivals are held in commemoration to Qu Yuan. I also read some of his poetry. So all because of a single google.

Yet there are malicious cranks that want to cause damage. Those of you, please grow up and let the rest of us continue with our interesting lives.

Now that I've gotten that out of my system. Oh by the way, if your phone bill does have calls to Sao Tome, contact PhoneBusters. The page has their toll free phone and fax number, it will be worth it to report these clowns.

Went for my run today, far better 6k, 36:44- better then the 39 I had before.

Peace

Continued my training yesterday I did a 3k run (18:19) & a 19.3k bike ride (49'15"). Felt quite good.

Today will either be an easy day or rest day.

The joy of knowing the holiday has begun is a great. Going to be a busy couple of weeks, what with a family reunion happening next Sunday. Still this is the weekend to relax and take it is.

I was going to come up with some interesting political comments; and I still plan to. The CRTC has been getting under my skin for years. A lot of it has to do with its mandate to 'protect Canadian culture'. When you look at your television there is a lot less Canadian culture. In fact the national networks seem to do without a lot of CanCulture. As far as I can figure most of the restrictions have to do with allowing Canadian advertisers to show their commercials.

But I wonder why on one hand ESPN, HBO and the channels Canadians want to see are unavailable, but Al-Jazeera is totally acceptable. Good question, I guess if Canadians saw what, more sports it might make us question our loyalty to Canada. It's nonsense we require this regulatory body to tell us what to watch or not to watch. But they do, the Globe and Mail had this little report: "The RAI bid to the CRTC was a huge election issue among Italian-Canadians, with senior Liberal MPs promising that the channel would find its way on to the Canadian airwaves". Then in Quebec, 15000 protested the closing of their favourite radio station.

Good thing I live in such a free land, where I can decide what to watch or listen to without fear.

Peace

Was able to get out and do some bike training today, 17.2 km in 42'35". Considering how hot it was I feel good about my time. What I need to do is get a street bike rather then my mountain bike to do some more training.

You know every so often the various agencies of the federal government do something that makes me scratch my head. Recently the CRTC our anal-retensive commission that has the role of deciding what is fit for Canadians to watch and listen to, sort of a modern "ministry of propaganda and public enlightenment'. Well they made a couple of decisions which make me wonder. First of all, a radio station in Quebec CHOI had their license pulled by the commission because they allowed their morning DJ to be rather boorish. Now you have to remember this is Canada, the world's largest nanny state, where you are not allowed to think bad thoughts, only government approved thoughts. They DJ's were like a lot of DJ's and involved in the 'shock jock' stuff that Howard Stern made famous. What makes this ruling rater ominous is this quote: "The decision by the CRTC, which marked the first time the regulator has refused to renew a radio licence because of on-air views, was criticized by some observers as censorship and an infringement on freedom of expression". Look forward to more of this because I believe once you censor one thing, it becomes easier to censor the next and the next, you get my drift. So now the CRTC is involved in deciding what is proper thought for Canadians. Like I said, the nanny state, you know if you don't like something there is a few things you can do; you can stop listening, you can write or call and complain, you can promise to raise hell with the sponsors of the program. You can do a lot, you have that choice and freedom. However once you let the government decide what is right you enter a very nasty time.

In a related piece of news, the same regulatory body which censored one station for saying bad things, is allowing the Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera to be a part of Canadian satellites systems. My question for the CRTC is this, are they allowed because they are stridently anti-American or because they are anti-Semitic. You see, in the nanny state there are thoughts allowed but only those sanctioned by the State. In Canada you are allowed to be anti-American and anti-Semitic.

One more thing, came across this article. Very funny my only fear is that the CRTC will read this and think it's a good idea.


Peace

This was going to be a run day for my training of the dualthon in August. After that opening line you are expecting a 'but'. Yes there is one and here it is. But the forecast was for smog and humidex warnings and so I decided to stay indoors. This is not to say I did nothing but watch 'Seinfeld', I did a half hour of weights and a half hour on the treadmill. So I gave myself both a strength and cardio workout for an hour. I do feel good, especially after the shower.
I know the literature does inform a person to add variety to the work out so it doesn't become stale. I worry sometimes it is happening, so I do try to vary the routines. Right now I'm looking for some new weight training workouts to add that freshness to the regimen.
Hopefully the air quality will be better for Friday.
Yesterday I attended a game at Comerica Park the new home of the Detroit Tigers. I have attended a number of games at Venerable old Tiger Stadium, yes I've seen Al Kaline play, but this was my first visit to this new place. I was impressed it is a beautiful place to watch a game. There is an intimate feel to the place and it does have what I want in a stadium, real grass and dirt. I would like to say the home team won, but alas, this is the 21st century Tigers, although they put on a good game and lost 5-4 in 10 innings. I believe this is a team on the rise and will only get better.

Peace

Today I started training for the dualthon in August. It's taking place on the 15th. Now it's not like I'm a total newbie, I've done both bike races and runs. Really it's a matter of combining the two with all the necessary work that will entail.
For this day I did my usual 6 k run and then rode for 11 k. The total time was 1 hour 6 minutes. My run was very slow today, I think I intentionally kept it slow for the bike. This week I plan to run on Wednesday and Friday, with the full training of bike and run on next Sunday. I'm hoping to shave time off and then add another 11 k to the bike. For the bike I'm taking sort of my running trail and then doubling it.
I felt good after the bike and with only a water bottle felt hydrated at all times. The bike was not a drain on my strength, especially after a good run so I'm hoping.
I'll let you know how I feel on Wednesday. Oh yes, I'm going to keep the weight training going as well.

I have to admit, every so often I do find it interesting to watch a
game of golf on television. I keep hoping to find some tricks and
tips that will assist my own rather amateurish game. The good
news is that I recently read most players shoot over 100. So I
feel in good company, those who don't are very good amateurs or
professionals. Since I am neither, I shall be content.

I'm trying the new edit composer which they have
with blogger and may I say it looks sharp. It's nice to see
there are a number of options that can be used when working on
it. I wish some other programs would also get with the program
and use something like this.

Well, not much to report on the political scene,
after the election I think we all need a break. So there's the
Open today, also known as the "British Open" and it's interesting to
watch the weather come in and go out, with apparent ease. One
moment everyone is in the sun and pleasant conditions, the next there
is a storm. So it will be interesting to watch how the weather
acts tomorrow. I wonder if it's better to start or be at the
end. I know that score is the determining factor but with the
weather it's conceivable you could start in good weather and end in
bad. If the openers end in bad, will that mean the leaders will
start in bad?

Something to consider. Who do I hope to
win? Good question. I don't have any favourites, just
hoping to see some good golf.

This isn't much of a thought, but hey it's Saturday and I hope it's going to be a good weekend.

I'm thinking about entering this dualthon in August
so I'll be practicing on the bike tomorrow. The run is only a 3k
and a 6 k. Both of those are normal distances for me, but it's
the bike or combining both which will be tricky. I'll get the
bike out and do about 20 k tomorrow. I'll blog how I felt
afterwards.



Peace