Mr. Hitchcock Would be Inspired

gathering of extras for the Birds remake on Squier St.

I don't know what the attraction was to this random spot, but there was an amazing number of small birds waiting for something last night. Sorry but that movie has already been made.

Thanksgiving Sushi

weigh-in:261
walk:1.8km

2 pc. toast w/peanut butter, coffee, 2 gl. water, sm plate pasta w/chicken, california rolls, duck, salad, crab cake, crazy cake, carrot cake, rye and diet pepsi

Somehow I slipped through the wedding weekend and lost 6 pounds for the week. I had everything I wanted, only had 1 drink at the reception but that was never a priority. I get up looking forward to my 20 minute walk, of course every day so far has been clear of rain. There's always the treadmill if it gets soggy.

Sal and I have been enjoying sushi rolls at the Sushi Bowl since my birthday and decided to try and make our own. She got all the supplies and today she made about $150 worth. We have lots of supplies and of course the few tools required left over. I rolled just once and my result brings back memories of her first batch of cabbage rolls when we were still in high school, just a few years back. I used way too much rice and the thing is about 2 1/2" in diameter. She went online for more instructions and her second batch are down to the nice size we were looking for. I tried a sample of the first batch and the taste is there, now with the rolling technique mastered she'll be cranking out one of our favourites. AJ and Jess are coming for supper for his birthday so they'll get the first try along with crab cakes, duck, caesar salad and crazy cake.

Bike Stolen? Check the Police Station

Think having one bike stolen is terrible? How about New York City where the police came along and cut off the locks of hundreds of bikes and loaded them into a truck and hauled them away. The bikes were on a street that would be part of President Obama's motorcade and the reasoning was the bikes were possible bike bombs. No warning and no word immediately as to where the bikes were taken.

Bike Stolen? Check the Police Station - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

The Blind Side

Sal and I just watched The Blind Side and enjoyed it. Throughout the story of the homeless black teen who was taken in by a wealthy family in Memphis I kept thinking how there are millions of Michaels and not nearly enough Leigh Anns.

Heading in the Wrong Direction

Since December I had been going to meetings as part of one of the committees working to improve Active Transportation in Thunder Bay. At the last meeting I attended it was suggested that to launch the bike lane on Court Street a street party be held. The street would be closed off to cars and people could try out the new bike lanes, the mayor and other dignitaries would take a spin to attract attention to the fact that the lanes are here. I suggested that the party be held on Court St. rather than the suggested Bay St. since it is Court St. that will see parking losses etc. to allow the lanes. Well I got an email today stating that the 'mission plan' includes the party on Bay St. All of this for a bike lane that will take you from Boulevard lake to the Moose Hall and then like most of our paved walking/bike paths leaves you with no recourse but to turn around and go back. There is no plan to connect or extend. It seems to me to be a bone thrown to the cycling crowd. Once the businesses on Court notice that few are using the lanes, they'll take a stand and the lanes will be gone. No one will use them because they don't get you from A to B. Bike lanes are meant for commuting not joy riding. I think my days on the committee are numbered.

I'm feeling a bit better about myself as I haven't strayed too far from eating right and riding almost every day. A long road back but at least a few steps have been taken.

Gold Overshadowed

Just wonderful, our hockey team struggles and we win gold in ice dancing? Those two kids were awesome but will the country accept anything less than a medal for men's hockey? Poor Stevie Y is going to take a lot of second guess based abuse for his picks. So far the ones that were questioned like Drew Doughty have played very well. Some of the old shoe-ins, like Chris Pronger, have played sub-par at best. Just not enough speed in those legs anymore.


My Flight Sim-Cross Canada trip is done. I landed a Witman Tailwind in Victoria BC yesterday afternoon. I have to recount all of the stops but managed the entire trip which started in mid-September with one landing that was in snow short of the runway but 0 crashes. Along the way I used the most realistic settings, radio navigation rather than gps, and actual weather conditions. Next up? Around the world with landings in as many countries as have airports. I'm back to the base scenery since the great pc crash of Jan2010 but the net-based satellite feed is too slow to go around the world anyway.


I got to inform the 110 teams of Lakehead Minor yesterday that there are no affiliations (call ups) in the playoffs. It's a rule that has been on the books for at least 10 years. What about my goalie who is away at the Olympics? We only have one goalie, what if he gets sick? Sorry boys that's why you pick 2 goalies. Consideration is only given to teams with a season ending injury for the netminder and only if pre-approved. My inbox got full in a big hurry.

Halloween Live Blog

With the weather and the illness it looks like a slow night for Trick or Treaters. Ginko is down with the flu.

6:00pm - 3 kids so far

6:15pm - 5 more

6:30pm - wow 9

6:45pm - 6 in a spurt

7:00pm - 8, wind is down, had time to make coffee

7:15pm - another 9

7:30pm - 5, gonna be looking at tootsie rolls and doritos for ever

7:45pm - 8 again, Habs are dressed up for the occasion

8:00pm - omg 13, finally broke 10 in 15 min., big ones are out now
8:15pm - 0, I guess it's over
8:30pm - 6 more and I'm closing up shop
72 kids in total

Best costume, I was going to say Leafs as an NHL hockey team or  Toskala as a goalie but I have to give it to the young guys dressed in the old sky blue Hockey Night In Canada blazers. Habs do look ridiculous in the jailbreak unis though, and they have a maple leaf on them?

Fingers Crossed

On Monday I was off so I spent the morning putting together the teams for Northwood. After four hours I had six teams and one big headache. I emailed a pdf file to each coach and a note to all the parents and went up to lie down. Now I just hope that the effort will result in fairly equal teams. We have one very young goalie that everyone was worried about. I knew I could beef up a team around him but how much? On Saturday we had scrimmages for final evaluation and he looked shaky against the youngest line and I was dreaming up combinations that would give the team a chance. On Sunday he faced the two older groups and held his own against the older kids and goalies. Now I just hope that if he continues to improve rapidly that I didn't make the team around him too strong. That's why I get the big buck I guess. Keep those fingers crossed everybody.

I couldn't sleep so I watched a Discovery Channel program about a British Airways flight the nearly ended in disaster. On the way from England to Australia the 747 passed over Indonesia and as it crossed the southern coast the pilots saw what looked like an electric snowstorm through the windshield. The wings were glowing and the engines looked to be covered in electric energy. The engines began trailing about 30 feet of flames. They lost one and then all four engines at 37,000 feet and started gliding. They could not restart the engines and began losing altitude, one mile for every 15 traveled. They determined they could not reach Australia so turned back for Jacarta. Air traffic control had trouble receiving their Mayday calls. The cabin began filling with smoke and they could not find any source. As the cabin lost air pressure the oxygen masks dropped into the laps of the passengers. The mask for the co-pilot was broken so the pilot dove the huge plane to keep his partner conscious. The strange effects they had seen stopped. As they neared the Indonesian coast the engines finally responded to their attempts to restart. They lost one again but had enough power to land in Jacarta. As they approached they went through more of the weird lights and electrically charged air and lost one engine. On final approach they found they could not see through the windshield and to top it the ILS was down at the airport. As the co-pilot read out the glide slope the pilot brought the plane in safely. The nose, windshield and leading edges looked as if they were sandblasted. Rolls Royce did a complete forensic teardown of the engines and found the problem. They had flown through volcanic ash from Mount Galunggung. Clouds of ash have no moisture so they don't appear on radar and at night are virtually invisible. The ash is basically a very fine sand that caused the 'St. Elmo's Fire' effect they saw, resulted in the smoke in the cabin and also caked the inside of the engines in a layer of molten soot that clogged them enough to flame out. Turning back actually put them through the cloud a second time. Once it cooled during the glide the material hardened and enough dropped off the engines to allow restart. The passengers had resigned themselves to certain death but instead they gather as the Galunggung Gliding Club on the anniversary of the memorable flight.

In the evening I headed out to the First Nations Rink #2 for a few games. I should have brought a parka and an ice scraper. The midget Kings practiced prior to the games and they gather around the timekeepers box to talk and sweat. The glass was totally frosted over and I had to use a puck to scrape it off so I could see even the lights of the clock. They sure have let the rink get run down.

Now Thats' a Jersey

The Kingston Frontenacs junior team recently wore these jerseys in support of Soldier On. Don Cherry made an appearance and the game-worn jerseys autographed by Grapes are being auctioned off on E-Bay in support of our troops. I looked at a few of the auctions and they were all in the $500 range. The players would probably pay that much not to have to wear them again. You can hate Donald S. and his many opinions but you can't deny his support of the troops and their families.

Time for a Change

   After months with the orange theme I've gotten a bit bored with the whole blogging thing as I guess you could tell from the limited posts. I decided after coming across an article from 'Make Use Of' that it was time to update not only the look but the content of my blog. Things are very strange between my ears lately.
   I know I'm putting on weight and seem helpless to do anything. I've started more than a few times to get back on the smarter eating path and quickly gotten off track. I lie in bed at night and tell myself "tomorrow I'll start" and I can be good all day and then throw the day away by snacking in the evening. I know that once winter gets here and I start walking to work it will help but with just three days a week I need more than that. For the last two years I knew to finish the cancer ride I would need to stay in better shape. Maybe I just need a goal. For now my goal is the picture on the left, when I fit that Swobo jersey and am able to wear it on a ride I'll have achieved my goal. I'm not going to worry as much about numbers or kilometers and just try to get into that jersey. I've had it for over a year and put it on briefly but never left the house in it.
   While we seem to be keeping things together financially even with my reduced work schedule, I still worry about the future. Payments are supposed to start coming in next week from UI and I'll see a bit at month's end from timekeeping. Once we're done with the truck lease that will be the last of the big monthly payment but there's still tuition to work on. These were supposed to be the years to save for that future now that the mortgage is finally paid off. Neither of us need anything extravagant but it would be great to be able to look forward to retiring, right now it scares me.
   And who the hell is that guy I see in the mirror every morning. I don't feel like it's me. I don't feel that old or that fat. But it is and I am, I can't do anything about the old but I am going to do something about the fat. Today.

Wow

Well Deserved Send Off

The gang at the Kakabeka club threw a great surprise party for Sal on Tuesday. I only found out at lunch and had to fib my way out as she thought she was going in to work, she had no idea.  About 40 people braved the blizzard to attend. We couldn't go more than 50kmph on the way home as the wind was whipping up the snow and finding the road was tough.

I spent my day off yesterday hanging at Petrie's, most of the morning cleaning 'Atikokan orange' mud off of a mountain bike and tuning it up. In the afternoon I made my first (nearly) solo repair to a customer's well aged bike. It had no functioning brakes and was caked in road salt. He wanted brakes and had to have his mode of transportation back in an hour. While he went to a doctor's apointment I pulled off the old calipers and cables and put on new ones. It's hard to get a good brake when the rim is as crooked as Bernie Madoff but he had 100% more stopping power than when he arrived, we even lubed the chain. Something that hadn't been done in years.

The weather looks like it is finally going to break, again. I think I can safely say I've gone through the entire winter without a cold. In recent years I'd get one and be barking for 6 weeks. The secret is to take your germs out for a nice walk in -30 temps and freeze them out.

Frostbite Claims Jill's 2nd Iditabike

Sad to read that Jill Homer's attempt at a 2nd Iditabike fell short. She stepped into a crack in the ice on a lake and nearly lost Pugsley, her snow bike. One boot filled with water and rather than stop and dry it she attempted to get to the first rest stop 6 hours away. It took her more than an hour to thaw out the boot and get it off, only to discover the frostbite and end up in emergency for 6 hours.

 

Three games to go in the Northwood season after a major upset and two ties on Sunday. The teams now play off in a one game for the hardware and I get my weekends back, just in time.

First day off without pay in the new cost cutting scheme at the other job, I spent another afternoon assisting the assembly of a road bike on Monday. Road bikes are a lot more technical than mountain, more precise and becoming more and more my most desired rides. I spun the rear wheel of the bike lightly to check the wheel and then watched in awe as it just kept spinning as if someone was pedalling it. I swear it went on for 5 minutes. I'm learning lots and meet lots of the hockey crowd as they come in for skate sharpening.

The pic is of another showstopper from Naked Cycles in BC from the NAHBS.

Makes Sense To Me

Urine Test -- This guy has a point!!!  
This was written by a construction worker in Fort McMurray.  Read on . . .  I work, they pay me.  I pay my taxes, and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit.  In order to earn that pay check, I work on a rig site for a Fort McMurray construction project.  At any time I am required to pass a random urine test, with which I have no problem.  HOWEVER, what I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.  Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?    Understand - I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do on the other hand have a problem with helping someone sit on their fanny, drinking beer and smoking dope.  Could you imagine how much money this country would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?   
If you agree, please pass this along, or simply delete if you don't.  Hope you will pass it along though, because something has to change in this country, and soon.

Somebody's Messin' With My Scale?

Yes, I walked to work every day and pedalled 400km in January. Yes I stayed away from snacks some of the time. When I got on the scale this morning I was still expecting either no progress or a gain, especially after Super Bowl Sunday. I ate a few no-nos but rode for a the first half and a bit of the third quarter then had supper when Sal got home. So when the scale came to rest on 233 (or 7 pounds less than the last time I checked about 3 weeks ago) I have to say I did not trust it. I checked it was zeroing, flipped it over looking for anything that might be causing it to lie, to get me pumped up for nothing. I got back on and it was still the same. I'm going to stop in at Dr. Holtby's to check with a true scale but for the time being, yeehaw!

Speaking of the Super Bowl, I thought it was a pretty sloppy first half but the second half was actually good. The Cards had the game in hand and just couldn't hold on. Bruce and the E-Street band put on a lievly show, surprised 'Born in the USA' never made the list though. The biggest disappointment was watching the Canadian cut-in commercials. You'd think for the biggest day in tv advertising they could seel enough ads so that we wouldn't have to see the same 6 over and over again. The 'mericans get the best ads of the year and we get re-runs. 

New at FCD

This winter has been a tough one at work. Our last gas bill topped $1000 and we're still frozen most of the day. I can honestly say I'm colder at work than I am during the walk in. Here's pic of my new Dell handwarmer. I turned th box sideways on the counter, put the monitor on top and the outlet for the fan provides a nice spot to warm my fingers.

Today's walk was a cool one as the advertised temp on tv was about 6 degrees off and with the wind I was a bit under-dressed. 

Coldest Day of the Year

Today as I was making my way to work I listened to the radio and that could have been a bad decision. The morning crew made sure that everyone knew it was -31 with a windchill of -42, at least every 60 seconds. Yes it was cold but no I didn't really feel it. With enough layers I'm convinced you can go out and walk in anything. The most I feel is like standing next to a door with a slight draft, normally where my gloves meet my jacket or if the wind blows at the wrong angle it can seep in around the ski goggles. This week has been extremely cold so as I went home Monday I was planning on what I could add to my list of winter wear.

Today and since Tuesday I have had on thermal socks Sal got me for Christmas, Under Armour base layer pants, a pair of pajama pants and my jeans. Around my middle a moisture wicking shirt, turtle neck, windbreaker, the outside shell of AJ's discarded American Eagle parka and the outside shell of my way too big Northwood 3 in1 jacket. On my head a standard Buff neck tube, a polar Buff over my face, an under-the-bike-helmet toque and a thermal fleece toque over it all with the ski goggles. I've learned to breathe in a way that doesn't fog the goggles and to never stop moving even if a red light holds me up. When I get to work I'm normally sweating where my pack sack rides but I'm not cold. It can be a fine balance between warm enough and not too warm. Ocasionally one too many layers will have me getting far too sweaty and then the cold will get to me about 3/4 of the way in. Not enough layers and I can jog a bit to get the core warmed up. I actually enjoy it. 

Frost on the Pumpkin

I can't imagine why this large pumpkin is sitting in the snow bank at the corner. It's been there all week. Ukrainian Halloween?

My New Hero, Rick Mercer

Chek out his latest rant.

He Does It His Way

Former Chicago Bears hall of fame middlelinebacker Mike Singletary was given the reins of the San Francsico 49'ers in late October. In his first game he told a player that got a stupid penalty to hit the showers, something simply not done in the pros. He went to the fans and apologized for the teams performance, ranted to the media about the teams lack of desire and apparently dropped his pants in the locker room during his post game 'talk' with the players. He was an intense player and looks to be an even more intense coach. The experts say they admire his style but don't think it will work with today's millionaire athletes. 

Tonight the player that he benched scored his first td of the season with a great effort and moments later they were laughing and hugging on the sideline. In his second game tonight the heavily favoured Cardinals are down 11 points at the half and Singletary looks pretty damn smart right now. They may not win the game but if they lose they'll do it his way, with pride and 110% effort.

 

His first press conference.