Lessons Pass

Tuesday night. That means swimming. The pool was pretty good tonight, though I had a hard time warming up.

I am wondering how I can improve my swimming technique. Either I keep swimming more, or maybe I think about taking lessons. Something to consider. I am constantly wondering if my form is off.

My swim consisted of a 200m warmup, 2 X 100m swims (it was supposed to be 200m without stopping), then a 400m stint with tiny breaks to allow a much faster swimmer to pass.

The sad part of the evening was that the hot tub was closed.

River Shoved

After staying out rather late at the concert on Friday night I was feeling pretty horrible Saturday. Saturday night I was supposed to play poker at Erin’s house. After a nice afternoon nap I was game to try and stay up late and play.

The game started off like any other game. I grabbed seat, and decided to try and play smart for the night. A couple hands in, and I was dealt a nice hand. I bet strong on it, and got one person to play with me. I had my Q high straight (I think it was) and was feeling pretty confident. We got down to the river and I bet large, and was called. I showed feeling confident in my hand. I had beaten him, but not with the hand I thought. I actually had a fairly high flush.

From that point I was up pretty high and started playing tight. I kept getting hands like A4, A5, K4.

I won a few more pots here and there, but nothing big.

I lost a big chunk to Erin in one hand when I called what I thought was a bluff. The non bluff took the wind out of my sails. I floundered for a bit, seething on the inside. It probably wasn’t a smart call and i paid for it. I had tried to count my outs and ensure I wasn’t being stupid, but in the end I was.

My final hand of the night I was dealing and found I had pocket 7’s. When my turn to bet came around, I bet into them and lots of players exited the hand. Erin stayed in to play. We saw the flop and it didn’t look scary. When Erin bet, I shoved all in. Erin thought for a while before calling. When he called, I said aloud that I was going to need some help, to which Erin replied maybe no. We both showed. My 7’s were up against Erin’s pocket 8’s. Nice. I didn’t hit, so I was out. I only used one buyin, and I was playing against better players than I, so i felt good about that.

I need to get more practice though before we head to Vegas. I might have to set up another game here in Victoria, and I might even start playing online.

Plans Apologized

I had the kids to myself for Thursday and Friday while Sue was off to Vancouver to take a test. The plan was for me to bring the kids to Vancouver Friday after work, then we would visit with some friends over the weekend.

Then my friend Erin pointed out that Jeff Martin was playing in Vancouver Friday night. Plans were made, and somehow I managed to get downtown and met up with Erin in front of the club. We got in and grabbed a seat to wait for the show to begin.

The show started off with a bang. The band opened with the title track (The Ground Cries Out) from the new CD. Sounded great. On the second song I started to notice that Jeff Martin’s voice sounded different than the album that was just released days earlier.

Another song later he announced his voice was a little under the weather. That explained what I was noticing.

They played quite a few songs from the new disc, and it was fantastic to hear them live.

They also played Cathartik (I think?), a Tea Party song, and they segue’d into a Nine Inch Nails song.

Sure enough though, after mentioning his voice, it started to go downhill quickly. A few more songs and his voice was done. He couldn’t even sing any more. He spoke his way through one soft song, and they took a quick break. He had something to drink, and tried to resume. You could see the frustration in his face, and he apologized a few times.

At one point he said fuck it, and started belting out the next few songs forcing them to happen. I can’t imagine how that would have felt. During one pause between songs he said very nicely “Could someone please bring me a Jack Daniels on the rocks”.

At the end of their set, they exited the stage, and the club brought up the house music. Pretty evident there would be no encore. I was hoping they would come back out and just play some of their songs without singing, or even just get out there and jam. Alas it wasn’t to be. We waited a few minutes, then grabbed our jackets and left. Outside we could see the band in an anteroom talking and looking rather upset. There were a few of us watching, and just as Erin and I were about to go, someone poked their head out and said something that sounded like “he’s coming back out”.

We went back inside, but the guitar tech was packing everything up, and the house music was still on. We waited a couple minutes in case, but in the end we did not hear any encore.

The show we did see was good though. Jeff Martin is an amazing guitar played, and I could watch him for days on end. Magical really.

Overall I enjoyed the concert, but I left disappointed. I felt bad for Jeff since it really looked like he was upset. I don’t know if he would have had it in him to keep playing and not sing. He was supposed to play the next night in Duncan, but I am guessing that didn’t happen. His tour schedule was pretty aggressive, with him playing every day or two. Hopefully he can recover quickly and not have to cancel too many stops.

Significant Soak

Tonight was my regular swimming night. There is something odd about the pool though. Last Wednesday and tonight I noticed them playing Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight. Odd coincidence.

The swim tonight was good. I got off to a good start, but I pushed too hard before warming up. By the end of my first 200m, I was too winded, and needed to take a significant break to catch my breath. When I got going again, I managed to get in another 500m without stopping. The trick here was to not push too hard, and to concentrate on breathing and on my form. Nearing the end I did push it a little though. The swim felt good. It was also really, really nice that I had the lane to myself for most of my swim. I really enjoy swimming and not having to look out for other people.

After my swim I had a short soak in the hot tub, then it was off to the shower and then home.

As I passed La Belle Patate I couldn’t help but notice their 2 for 1 Poutine Tuesday sign. It was hard to resist.

Then as I was walking through the park I couldn’t help but think about the cougar sightings int eh area the last few days. Rather spooky walking through a brush lined path that is pitch black, knowing that a cougar is in the area. Obviously I made it home fine though.S

Amazing Day

5 years ago my life changed in such a dramatic and amazing way. Today, 5 years ago, my son was born.

He seems so old now, and for some reason, I feel different as a parent. Parenting a 5 year old seems like a big change from parenting a 3 year old or 4 year old. I know that only a day has gone by, but still. It is different to me.

Shrunk Color

Sometimes it pays to ask.

Quite a few months ago I bought from Sport Check, a long sleeve shirt made by Columbia. I liked the shirt, it fit well, and was very comfortable. The first time it was washed, it went through in cold water and was hung to dry. I didn’t want it to shrink, yet that is exactly what happened. The sleeves shrunk several inches, and the chest area shrunk too. I could not wear the shirt at all any more.

I thought I might as well contact their warranty department and see if there was anything they could do for me. I was told to send the shirt in with a description of what was wrong. They would take a look at it and make a determination if this was warranty worthy.

I took a chance and sent the shirt in. The shirt had originally cost me $30 and the shipping was an additional $12. I didn’t hear anything from Columbia for a while, and was just about to follow up with them when a package arrived. They sent me a brand new shirt. Sure it was a different color, but it fit well.

I commend Columbia on replacing the shirt, but it would have been great to get a heads up that a new shirt was coming my way. For them to keep me in the dark is a little strange, especially since my communications with them had all been via email.

Hopefully this new $42 shirt will last longer than the first one.

Snow Clip

It snowed on Wednesday, and it has actually stuck around. Coming up to the weekend I was hoping the snow would melt so I could get in a training ride.

Sadly this didn’t happen. The snow melted a little, but there is still too much ice on the roads to safely ride. Instead I jumped on the trainer in the basement and went for a spin that way.

It’s been too long since I was on a bike. It hurt a little making my legs spin in circles for so long. I sure put on a sweat. It felt good. I did a 5 minute warmup and a 45 minute ride. In that ride I did a few standing stints, a few hard sitting sprints, some rest periods, and the rest I cruised along at a pretty good clip.

Passed More

My swim last night was pretty good. After the kids were in bed I walked down and quickly headed for the pool deck. Of course the slow lane was packed with really slow swimmers and the fast lane had two people in it that were pretty fast. What to do?

I started off in the fast lane and got passed pretty quickly. I then tried the slow lane, but caught up to the woman doing the backstroke very quickly. I settled on the fast lane and did my best to stay out of the way of the others. It meant I took a few more breathers than I would have liked, but it also meant I wasn’t trying to dodge people.

In total I swam 650 – 700m. I’m pretty happy with that. I just need to work on my speed and endurance a little more. For now I don’t think I will increase the total distance until I can easily do 350m or more without stopping. Right now I pretty much have to take a break every 200m.

LOTD – Race Here

I used to downhill race when I used to ride a lot. I never really placed all that well, but I would have a good time. Nothing like going as fast as you can down a trail and not having to worry about someone around the next corner. There is also nothing like getting a shuttle to the top of the trail and doing many runs in a day 🙂

I’ve heard about urban DH races before, and I’ve seen a few pictures, but this video is unreal. Crazy fast, and insanely tight.

I originally found this on twitter, but the site the video is on is here.

Processing Action

Finally got around to processing the pictures from the trip to Ottawa.

First up, here are some pics from the ice slides in Gatineau.

And some video of the slides in action. We went last year too, and they really are a blast. You just sit down on them and go (and hopefully you are wearing ski pants). The slide is so steep and slick that you can get going pretty fast.

The park near where we were staying had an excellent hill for sledding, and a great playground too. We spent a few hours in that park.

During one visit to the park, there was a winter festival. They had hot dogs, cupcakes, other treats, and horse drawn sleigh rides. What a great community event.

Sledding time! Amy even went a few times. She was funny though. She refused to go for a long time. When I finally got her to go down she was giggling and laughing the entire way, then wanted to go again.