I met one of my heros; Beckie Scott, and Cried.

As a Canadian who doesn’t particularly care for hockey my sporting idols have never been well-known to mainstream TV watchers.  However we Canuks do have some great, non-puck handling, sporting figures to look up to.  Especially on nordic skis and bikes.  Clara Hughes, Simon Whitfield, Svein Tuft, and Beckie Scott are not only great athletes but also great all around people.

Last week I had a chance to hear Beckie Scott talk at the University of Waterloo.  The crowd was sparse, her intro was fumbled, and her brief talk moved me to tears.
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A week of Driving Natness: Tucson – LA – bako – SF – Vegas – Tucson

I have been trying to finalize team contracts for 2009 via an endless series of e-mail and phone tags.  As this is my last free week before training camps start happening in Tucson, I simply thought ‘heck, I’ll rent a car and simply go visit all of them.  It’s been almost a month since I’ve had a 3000+ km road trip.  So with 12 notice I booked a rental car from the ‘Japanese’ level and fell asleep.

Picking up the car, I was actually downgraded to the Chevy Aveo which was a complete POS – don’t get me started.
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Hawaii Adventures pt 2: In, Under, Above Vocanos

1 Mile Lava Tube:

Hike 2.5miles down a path leaving from mile 23 on the saddle hwy.  On your right is a hole in the earth.  Climb down the rocks, take 3 flashlights, and a friend: Super hostess Michelle.  You just keep heading down this long ‘culvert’ through the earth.  Stalactites, and stalagmites have a shiny silvery-black look.  Really cool, but being out here by yourselves, and seeing the frequent spots the roof has collapsed (this young rock here ain’t strong) is a little un-nerving.
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the Subie’s final waltz?

Plan A: was to hit the road and make the 6h out of the desert in the cool of Sunday evening.
Plan B: was formulated until I woke up Monday morning having not made plan A. But I was showered, had slept 9h, and my belly was full of some Ames Famliy BBQ. Not to mention that I spent 2h in the pool, ‘cooling my core’ temperature, and otherwise cavorting with my homies Emily and Colin.

Before I even got to Vegas my butt was cramping, probably a combination of the worn out seat, and the racing. Subie, is possibly due for a timing belt change, and as a precaution I purchased the required belts, and ratchet set.. sitting as preventative measure in the shotgun seat.
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Paying the ‘Nat Tax’

The whole ‘life unscripted/ unplanned/ non-uneventful’ thing sounds swell on paper, but truth be told, sometimes my ‘carelessness’ (as some close to me may call it)

As I was packing to leave California it was brought to my attention that my passport was expired. It is not a requirement that you have a valid passport for entering Canada, even by plane, so, as it was a Sunday evening, I wasn’t terribly worried. Carley suggested I call Air Canada and see if this would be a problem. They told me it would, but, without other options I was hoping that… maybe they won’t notice it.
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The Dog Blog

Soo. I have been dog walking for the past 3 weeks, and I have one more week of it before jetting back into full Nat-ness. Well focused – hoping to be pro-triathlete Nat-ness. Ha. But for now, I am fund raising by walking the dogs.

It seems simple. I spend around 45 minutes driving around to various houses in the Doggy Taxi rounding the hounds up, once I have found a nice quiet trail-head, I open the bursting, parked car, and tear off through the woods for 45 – 60 minutes of acting like a dog myself. After which time, I round them up, clean them off (kinda), return them, tuckered-out to their homes. Then it’s off to the next group.

Easy-Peasy. Especially since they all know that I am ‘top dog’ and it’s old hat as it’s now my 3rd time walking…
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Justin Marriage : the stag

Everything was steaming along fine in our deck renovations. Once Kev and I had finished 3 weeks of procrastination and started work. We also fabricated and painted cupboard doors to complement last winters back-splash.

Long story short, I was 2 days late, and starting to scheem up very complicated methods for ‘biking’ (car ride, train, bus, fed-ex) the 500km to Justin’s (yet to be organized) Stag in KW. Tracy who was (thank muchas) flying my suit up to Thunderbay for the wedding, called to see why I hadn’t dropped my shoes off, and then suggested ‘wouldn’t it be easier to car pool with me to Toronto tomorrow?’
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To Do list

Hello there,

After the first 6 years when they grow an inch annually, Joshua trees will only grow a 1/2 inch per year, making this bad boy over 200. The lady in the national park asked my twice when I told her I did not need a bag for my post card. Happy Earth day buddy.
True to form my ’16km hike’, on a trail that you ‘can’t miss’ ended up being a tad longer. Niki and I hiked from the Mojave side, where all the joshua trees are spread out like an orchard in the tilted desert, through/ over the dividing mountain range, to the side with the saguaro cactus.
People wonder what I am planning.

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