Really Quite Respectable

Had a chance to review the rankings from Saturday's races and discovered that MTDBC Thunder Waves placed 28 out of 42 women's teams. This is far better than I ever expected us to do.

In Sunday's semi-final 500m we finished 5 out of 6 in our heat (ok, not so great) but in the final 250m (race 139) we finished 4 out of 6, and the difference between 3rd and 4th place was only about a quarter of a second, I think. Really quite a respectable showing.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks to my Dad for posting some pictures of the race on Saturday on his flickr page.

That was fun

Couple of things:

Had a fun BBQ at the parents on Friday night as a farewell dinner for Dad before he left for India on Saturday.

Finished reading Harry Potter, the seventh and final book at 10:54pm Friday night. Phew!

Spent Saturday and Sunday at the Olympic Basin in Dragon Boat competition (here are the results). That was fun!

I'm tired, sunburned and had a fantastic time.

Let the races begin

Here's tomorrow's race schedule. It should be a pretty interesting day, I think there are something like 200 teams competing - oh, the pressure!

I'll be racing with MTDBC Lightning (mixed) and also MTDBC ThunderWaves (women).

I don't actually expect anyone to be around for the first race at 7:20 (I have to be there at 6:00am!) but if it's nice and you have nothing better to do, take the metro out to Parc Jean-Drapeau and see if you can watch the race at 10:50am, 2:28pm or 4:20pm.

Sunday's semi-final and final will depend on how we do tomorrow.

I got it! I got it!

At long last - managed to pick up my copy of Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows last night. I couldn't dive into it because I had Dragon Boat practice, we took team pictures and so it was nearly 8:30pm by the time I finally got home. Argh! After showering, stretching, getting food ready for work today, clothes ready for work, gym clothes out, bike in position ... I only managed to read about 100 pages before going to bed.

Doesn't look like I'll get much reading done tonight either as I'm hoping to meet up with Tamara & Ben and their two kids. Tamara & Ben came in from Halifax to see The Police concert last night (sooo jealous!). I'm excited to see them and of course that is much more important than just reading a book ;)

I will get to the book. Soon. I hope.

I can eat cherries again!

While doing my weekly grocery shop this weekend, I found the fresh cherries were too much of a temptation for me to resist. Normally if I want to eat cherries, I have to cook them because I am allergic to fresh cherries.

I got home, started thinking of the acupuncture treatments I had this winter and wondered if that would have changed anything. Thought about stewing them, making a cobbler, a crisp but then couldn't help myself and started eating them. Figured I'd try a couple and see. Guess what I found out? I can eat cherries! Fresh cherries! And my mouth doesn't go all itchy and my tongue doesn't swell!

So now I have plenty of cherries for my afternoon snack all week. Yum!

Getting Older

You know you're getting older when paying $23 online and waiting a few extra days for the new Harry Potter book is more important than standing in a queue for hours to buy it at midnight tonight.

More Questions, More Passing the Buck

I'm not proud of myself, but really, some things you should be able to do without anyone's help.

Q. "I'm sorry to bother you but can you help me with a consolidated invoice?"

A. "I could but it would be better if you got the FMA to help you."

Rain in the forecast

Therefore it must be Wednesday. I can't believe it. Really. Can. Not. Believe. It.

9 Dragon Boat practices to date and only 2 of them have been in good weather! One got cancelled because it was too damn cold. Five others have taken place in the rain and it looks tonight will be the sixth time.

I don't know if I'm cut out for this.

A-Tweedle Dee-A

The more things change the more things stay the same, so the saying goes right? I have found that to be truer than ever this week.

With a recent move at work, I am now working beside an older, Italian version of Tweedle-Dee. Henceforth she will be known as A-Tweedle Dee-A. Sounds nice and Italian now, doesn't it?

Example 1: You plug in your laptop, logon and DON'T notice your battery is draining over the course of the next two hours, eventually turning your computer off because the battery is dead! And then of course, the question "Hey! How come a-my computer just turned itself-a off?" I assumed right away that the plug she used wasn't working but instead of spending the next few years answering more stupid questions, I decided to let the pro's handle it and said, "The plug you used isn't working. Better call micro." And that's it. Micro came, confirmed the plug was dead and sorted it out.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Wild Bill in India

Wild Bill has officially started his new blog in preparation for his trip to India. I've included a link to his space over there on the right.

Keep a watch on his space for updates from now until January 2008!

P.S. Dad, I'm sooo jealous. Please go ahead and have the time of your life.

Watching the clock

3:04 ... 3:49 ... 4:20 ... 4:43 ... 5:15 ... 5:35 ...

Might as well get up, hit the gym, go to work.

When do I get to sleep?

International Flora

On my fourth and final day of my extended long-weekend, I visited the Montreal International Flora Festival at the Old Port, believing the weather report that told me there was no chance of precipitation that afternoon. Silly me.

However, despite having to wait out one light rain shower and one long downpour, I did spend a couple of very enjoyable and relaxing hours there, taking pictures of the various gardens and of many of the flowers. The colours were so vibrant and each garden so original and creative; I loved it. I’ve posted a new set of pictures on flickr for your viewing pleasure.

Once I was done there, I biked back to the market for a little lemon sorbet and an amazing loaf of baguette for my dinner.

Finally, finally, finally – my long anticipated massage finished off the weekend on the perfect note. Thanks, Sina!

Mont Orford PSA

If you’re ever in the Mont Orford area and think to yourself "Hey, I should walk up there!", stop yourself. You’ll thank me later.

My mother had the bright idea that we’d go for a nice hike at this provincial park today. No problem. I’m always ready for a nice day of hiking. What neither of us had thought of or were expecting was to arrive at a completely closed ski station where we ended up hiking up the ski slope. At times it felt like we were going straight up a 90° incline. It wasn’t a long hike, only 4 kilometres but man … was it ever hard. We made a number of short stops on the way up to have a sandwich and catch our breath. Although it was quite a windy and cool day, this managed to keep us from overheating and probably, in part, how we did make it all the way up. As we climbed, the view got better and better all time. It was a great feeling to finally reach the top. By that time my calves were shaking from the exertion (and I like to think that I’m in reasonably good shape.) Honestly, if there had been one more switch-back, I may have had to finish the hike on my hands and knees. The view from the top was wonderful though and certainly made up for the climb. I’ve posted a few pictures here. The way down was certainly easier on the heart but no less hard on the body. By the time we reached the bottom, neither of us could feel our knees anymore.

A couple of times it looked as if it was going to rain, and we did get a few drops on the way up but the real rain managed to hold off until the minute we got back to the car. Talk about timing.

After that we went for a short drive into Magog for a relaxing stroll along the main drag and a rewarding pastry and cup of tea in a little local café.

My plans for a long bike ride tomorrow evaporated somewhere up the hill today. I’m going to take thing a little bit easier and stick close to home. I will probably head into Old Montreal to spend some time at The International Flora Festival. And then to end my lovely 4-day long weekend off on the perfect note, I will get my massage and then melt into bed.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note: just did a little online investigating and found this site. Just so you know, this is not what is there now. Maybe they did have this at one time but certainly not in 2007.

Summer Splash

Here's my report on my first Dragon Boat competition from Saturday.

Saturday, June 30

Today was my first race day. All in all, I had a pretty fun time of it. Our team was there at 8am to make sandwiches for our food stand (to raise funds for the next competition). It was pretty cold and no coffee or even hot chocolate to keep our motivation up!

10am – first race 400m. I was anxious to see how it was going to play out. I had a fair idea that it would be a lot different than our weekly practice and boy, was I right. For example, during practice I find that I don’t really get wet at all. Not so on race day. We were all paddling so strong and moving so fast that each and every one of us basically got soaked from head to toe on one half of our body, depending which side of the boat we were seated on. Think we came in 3rd or 4th (of 4 teams).

11:40 – second race 200m. Obviously was much faster than the first and because it was so much shorter, we didn’t have the long stretch of just going at 85% of our force. It was pretty much a start, immediately up to 100%, then a short burst at 85% and then the final 50m at 100% again. This time I’m pretty sure we placed 3rd.

1pm – 3rd race, 100m. This was a rush. Our standard hard 5 strokes to get the boat out of the water and then 100% push for the finish. It was over in less than 30 seconds. Apparently we had a great start; really getting the boat out fast. Think there were only 3 boats in this race and we came 2nd. Not too shabby! Shortly before this race started, my friend Super C showed up to see what this whole thing was all about and to cheer me on. Thanks a bunch and especially for the pictures!

2:45pm – 4th and final race, another 400m. Despite it now being the end of our day and although I was starting to feel a bit tight in my back, we had an amazing race. We were really pushing hard and by the time we hit our last 100% push to the finish, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it – that’s how much we were putting into it. Luckily it’s all over in less than 3 minutes though and we all survived. For this race there were 3 other boats and we came in 2nd again. I was so pleased with how it all turned out. Considering we don’t have a full team yet, and had about 6 people (who have never trained with us) sitting in to fill the empty spots, I think we did incredibly well.

Some hours later I am feeling exhausted from the huge energy output but also rather proud of myself. I had a good time today and now that I know how a race works, I’m looking forward to the next competition at the end of July.

Meal Substitutions

Call me crazy but you’re fooling nobody saying you don’t like butter. Please, asking to substitute the vegetables on your plate with salad, dressing on the side and then using it all? Asking for your clam chowder not to have any potatoes in it? And if you think the chef used skim milk in that soup, you are seriously deluded. You’re watching your weight. I get it. Really, I do. And that's OK.

But don’t then go and order a crème brulée for dessert! Give me a break.