Post Election

We are still a country. We were coming dangerously close over the past few weeks of having the ex-Reform, ex-Alliance, now Conservative party rule the roost and ultimately destroy this country. I am constantly amazed at how the Liberal bashing drives peoples motives, overrules their intelligence and makes them vote for a party. Especially a party which contains members, not far removed from the ultra-right wing roots of the Reform party.
A wolfe in sheeps clothing is still a wolfe.

It has been a busy time for me. I enjoyed my weekend (past), as I usually do, but they are tiring. I did not arrive at 2am this time, thankfully, but it was pushing midnight when I finally arrived back. I was bringing back the bikes, so I could not travel as quickly as I normally do, and caution made me stop periodically and check that things were still attached. Last year, around this time, I had a different bike rack and attempted this trip. What a disaster, things were not looking good, so 1/2 way I stopped and stuffed and rammed the bikes into my car. That was not a lot of fun. This year I have a better bike rack, but I still approach it cautiously.
Nice to have the bikes here. I expect to do a lot of riding around, we usually do, Daniel really likes to bike ride.

I am somewhat concerned about his weight gain and am trying to figure out why he has put on the pounds. He is normally fairly active when I see him, but maybe the influence of video games and sloth-like activities has not helped. He needs to be active, is better when he is active.
Hard for me to monitor and do much about though, except when I see them.

The weather has continued to be dry allowing me to blade each night. My kms for June are at 320km right now, should top 350km if the weather holds. Running about 850km right now, but July and August will be a little slower due to other schedules, but I should be able to accumulate at least 150km each of those months, reaching my 1,200km goal before September.
My blades are holding together, but they are definitely showing their age. Tried to get new laces on Saturday, but the store I went to does not sell blading laces. Interesting, they sell lots of blades, but no laces. They recommended the manufacturers web-site and I think I will just order it there.

I am off for the the coming couple of weeks. I need a break from the daily grind. Will be good to spend some time away. Having the kids with me we will be busy, but the time will go quickly.
I guess I have to pretend to do some work. Not a heck of a lot on the plate right now, still waiting for others to deliver.

Blading Away

Approaching 800km now, should reach that milestone this week, barring any unfortunates.

Unfortunately, they have resumed hauling gravel on my route. My 1/2km warm-up loop was almost unpassable yesterday, especially around the corner. I guess when the trucks head around the corner, the load shifts and some spills out onto the roadway.
This is not just small gravel, but big-chunks now, not sure if this is indicative of any phase of development, or just what they haul (there is a gravel-crusher at the end of the road).

This is a short week for me as I head up to the Okanagan again on Friday, 3rd weekend in a row for me. I wish I had the stamina (and finances) to be able to do the weekly visits, rather than every two weeks. The kids have enjoyed me being there each week, a more consistent and stable approach.
A dream perhaps, but just not doable right now.

Norway

As this BLOG is entitled Weebles's Adventures, I had better talk about some of the adventures I have had, not just now, but in the past.

The company I was (and still am) with was considering doing some business with a company in Norway and sent two of us over to check things out. So myself, and a coworker went over for a week. It was coincidental that this week was in or around May 04th, which is Norway's national holiday.

We arrived, and where we were going was in a town called Konsberg, just out of Oslo (125km or so). We arrived and checked in to the Grand Hotel. Oddly enough, there seems to be a Grand Hotel in every town in Norway. Anyways, one of the first things we tried to figure out was the parking meters, and whether we were required to stuff money in, even though it was 7pm or so. I am not sure we ever did figure this out, we just kinda lucked out and our car was not removed from the street.
My co-worker was recently married, just 2-3 weeks if I remember correctly, and her new husband was going through major separation anxiety. When I say major, this would be quite an understatement. He would phone her and talk for hours, which was unfortunate as our timezones were such that this resulted in her getting very little sleep. By the end of the week she was a complete wreck.

The people we had gone to see were really good to us. They had arranged for us to stay in Oslo the day of the national holiday, at the Grand Hotel ( :-) ), which is also the hotel where the Noble Lauriates stay when they receive their awards. They had also arranged for us to have tickets to the end of the parade-grounds, at the king's palace grounds. So, the morning of the 4th, which was quite cold and gray, we walked up to watch the festivities.
Little did we know that in a country with 4M people, 3 1/2 attend the parade, either in it, or lining the street. We tried to stay the whole time, but after over 2 hours of watching people marching in regional costumes (I think you would just have to be Norwegian to appreciate this) we just could not do it anymore. So, we attempted to go back to our hotel.....against traffic.....yikes, it was crazy.

Another thing I remember about Konsberg, was that all of the students were graduating. What the do is buy a bus (usually last years bus), painted in the schools colours and drive around town partying it up. They do this for days and days and days. It was hilarious to watch.

Oh well, after 6 days it was time for us to venture home. We survived pizza day, and brown cheese (can anyone tell me what the heck is in brown cheese which makes it brown) and having absolutely no idea of what we were eating. However, the people are fantastic and I loved the country, would go back any time.

Father's Day

When I have a little more time I will write a little more on the weekend day.

It was enjoyable, although tiring with all of the driving that I had to do. Didn't actually arrive home until 2am this morning (Monday), so I am a little less than 100% today. When I arrived back at the house after dropping the kids off, I discovered that Heather had forgotten her blanket, an essential element for my young daughter.
Since I am seeing them again on Friday I figured she might be ok without it, but after some (internal) debate I decided that I would drop it off. This meant another trip and an extra 90min on my journey home.

The kids surprised me on Sunday and wanted to go swimming in the lake. The water is still quite cool, but with the days now having temperatures of 30+, that should quickly end.

More later....

out and back

Went out for a blade at 8am this morning (Saturday), a time when most civilized people are still sleeping, or contemplating life over a cup of coffee.
It was warm already, even at this time, but the winds were light and the road was free of the maniacs who usually drive along that road.
At the end of my regular 15km run I felt pretty good, so I turned and did an extra 5km loop.

Do some house stuff, then head off for the day....

Sleeping in

NOT! Sure wish I could sleep in. Saturday morning, 6am, I am up. A few things to do today. It has been very warm here over the past few days, muggy, making for a less enjoyable blade in the afternoons. Will be nice to get out this morning, in the cool of the morning. It has been quite windy this week, a bit of a struggle each day, but I will have managed 90km for the week, after today.
Heading up the Okanagan today, at some point, probably early afternoon. I pick up the kids tomorrow at 10am for the day. Not quite sure what I have planned, but I am pretty sure that it will involve a trip to the pool. Always interesting, despite being an area centered around the lake, when asked, the kids prefer to go to the pool for a swim. It could be that they identify this activity with me, not sure, but whatever the reason I allow it to be there choice.
Back on Sunday night, probably around 11pm or so.

I just discovered that my local Starbucks has decided to renovate. This is not good. They have indicated that they will be closed from June 28th-July 11th inclusive. I am not sure what I am going to do, I guess suffer through. I am not sure I can survive without a good morning cup of coffee.

Going to try and pick up some sausages on the way through. There is this great deli, but I just rarely have time to stop, and they make the best sausages. So, today I have a chance so I will make a point of it. Funny how we find these places, sometimes out of the way, but important. The kids love gelato, introduced them to it last summer, so I am hunting down all of the gelato places around so we can go and enjoy a treat. I have not found one the Okanagan yet, maybe a web-search will help me here, but definitely there are a number in and around where I live.

More later.....

Elections

It is somewhat ironic that both the US and Canada have elections which are occurring at the exact same time. Gives us an opportunity to compare the two systems.
I was appalled earlier this week though. Here in Canada we had the English and French language debates between the 4 major contenders, on successive nights. The day after the English-language debate I expected to see some news blurbs on Yahoo-Canada's headlines which is my home page. I subscribe to all the biggies including Associated Press Canada as well as Canadian Political news, also from Associated Press. Not a single mention of the Canadian debates. Were there any reporters from Associated Press in attendance? Hmm, actually, the biggest story of the moment was that Kerry had raised $100M over the past 3 months. This was under the title of Canadian Political News.....go figure....

The length and expense of the American political system astounds me. I recognize that this is private money and that Federal funds, as they are in Canada, are capped; but when I see statements that Bush has $218M in the bank (not including what he has spent to date) I just begin to wonder if this has all gone a little too far.

I think the US should turf the electoral college though. It seems silly that a presidential candidate can win the majority of the popular vote, nation-wide, but lose the Presidency. Although it could possibly occur in Canada, it is much less likely because of how our system is structured.
It is the winner-take-all approach which is at fault. If the state has 10 electoral votes, and the candidate receives 60% of the popular vote, then they should get 6 votes, not 10.

Just my two-cents worth (about 5-cents Canadian).....

Day One

Having just started this I am not sure how to start, but I am sure that this will come with time.
It is a Friday, about 7:30am, I am sitting at work trying to figure out what I am going to do today. Work has been sporadic lately, constantly waiting for other people to complete things so that I can continue to work. This means long periods of idle time and a few scares of whether I will be employed here much longer. The old adage that if you don't appear to be busy, then you are not, and you are surplus, regardless of your value to the company as a whole.

I had some trouble getting my BLOG started last night, from home, and I hope that this is not a sign of things to come. I would much prefer to do these entries from home, not from work.

Hoping to continue to blade this afternoon. I have been under the weather this week, but have continued to go for my evening blade. This has been rough, aerobic activity when you are stuffed up is not optimum, but it has been good. Running close to 800km as my total distance right now, that would be 2/3 of my 1,200km goal - and it is only June. I should surpass my 242km I did in May this month, easily, as I am only 32km off that goal right now, with lots of days left in the month. I will not be able to accumulate quite as many kms in July as I have the kids with me for 2 weeks, leaving only about 10 blading days or so, same for August; but that should be enough to reach my goal.
My treat for reaching this goal is to buy a new pair of blades. Right now, I am looking at the Bont Shark Attack (www.bont.com). These are 5-wheel blades, a good starter set of racing blades. I don't intend on racing, but I would like to work towards one day entering the Duluth Marathon (42km along the North Shore in Duluth Minnesota) or if my body allows, the Athens/Atlanta race (136km from Athens to Atlanta Georgia).

At 41 I feel I am in better phsyical shape than I was when I was 30. The years from 30-39, for me, were not the best. I was not terribly active, and once the kids were born things just spun out of control. I am finally getting back to where I should be. I have never been an athlete as such, never could do fitness programs. Working out at the gym would never do it for me. However, I love to bike and blade. I used to be a pretty good skier, but it is more difficult to do, distance and expense.

Hmm, I better do some work.....employment is important, pays the bills