Goals

For blading, this year, I set out 3 goals to which I wanted to achieve.

1) Blade 1,500km for the year
2) Increase my daily blade from 15km to 20km
3) To blade a marathon distance (42km) at least once during the year

Although I have not reached #1 yet, I am only about 250km short of that target, easily reachable either in August or early September (barring anything unforseen).
I had some issues with my ankles early in the season which made longer distances very difficult. I have since overcome these and my standard blade is now 23km. My average for the year is 18.83km and if I continue with 23km as my standard distance I may get close to, if not surpass an average blade of 20km.

The last goal has turned out to be more difficult than I had imagined. I knew I had the fitness to blade 42km but I was finding that the turnarounds were making it difficult. My course is 15km, which means I have to lap the course 3 times in order to complete the distance. I have found that the turnaround is a psychological barrier that I have had to work very hard to overcome.
This becomes more pronounced when there is a strong wind.

In any case, today I was able to reach that distance. There was a reasonably strong wind which made the final home stretch quite difficult, but I was able to complete the distance. I cannot say it was enjoyable, but it certainly was an achievement.

License Plates

I was away on a business trip this week.

I might write a few blogs about my experience, but I wanted to talk about something I do each and every time I travel. It has become a custom for me to track license plates when I travel in the states.
I record each state that I see, attempting to reach all 50 of them. I have been close once, reached 47 when I was travelling in Cape Cod during the summer months. I even had Hawaii, cannot remember what I was missing.
Definitely, there are states which are hard to find their residents do not travel much. States like Alabama, Arkansas and the prairie states of Kansas and Oklahoma I do not see often.

The rules are simple. Excluding semi-trucks, which travel across the country, write down the plates you see. Although I currently include them, rental-cars might be something I exclude in the future. However, sometimes it is hard to tell what is a rental car.

My latest trip took me through Illinois and Wisconsin, and totals 32, not bad
Tennessee
Iowa
Illinois
Wisconsin
Michigan
New Mexico
Florida
Louisianna
Arizona
Georgia
Nebraska
Pennsylvania
California
Texas
New York
New Jersey
Oklahoma
Kentucky
Ohio
Colorado
Idaho
Indianna
Washington, DC
Nevada
Alaska
Mississippi
Utah
Oregon
Missouri
South Carolina
North Carolina
Virgina

The goal would be to reach 50 of course, which would be no small feat. Lately, this little endeavour has been made much more difficult by all of the designer plates which are coming out. Pennsylvania, for example, has a number of different designs and patterns for its plates including some quite fancy ones for saving wildlife. This makes it more difficult to spot the plates as they look unique. Same for Michigan which has recently changed its design from the traditional white on blue to be the now-standard white background. In fact, most of the states now look similar in their designs. Georgia and Florida look quite similar with the main difference being the peach vs the orange.

Something to do I guess. I am also trying to learn the slogans for each of the states as well. The best (bar none) is New Hampshire's 'Live Free or Die'. Thank you, NOT! What a horrible slogan.

Til next time

July-8-2005

Kids were lined up at the door this morning, before I was even ready.....they wanted to go to daycamp pretty darn bad.

They had a fantastic day, filled with lots of swimming, long basketball games and crafts. I picked them up at 4, then we went down to Granville Island where we picked up some croissantes for breakfast. We then went to Sophie's for dinner before going home.

Good day...

July-7-2005

After a day off, the kids were not 100% about going to daycamps today. However, when I picked them up they were all smiles and didn't want to leave. They had a majorly good day, Daniel was worked hard and Heather really enjoyed her crafts and time there.

After we got home, we had dinner (fish and french-fries) and then went to Mario's for a gelato...good day, and to bed early.

July-6-2005

Daniel was not feeling well this morning so we elected to miss daycamp. Heather and I went off, around 11:00 to get out hair cut, Daniel played Runescape much of the day.

Around 3:30pm we all went to Watermannia for a swim. The kids had a good time and we left around 6:00pm, home for dinner. A good day, and Daniel was sounding a lot better by the end of the day, so things were back on track.

July-5-2005

Today was day 2 of the daycamp. When we arrived, both kids ran away from me, happy to be there, had to beg them to come back and give me a hug. Even before we left, they were up early, ate their breakfast quickly and were ready to go right away. No issues, no fuss and lots of happy expectations.

Daniel had a hard basketball day. They worked them hard today, and he was feeling it. He said he was pouring sweat and he is sore and tired tonight. Great stuff, love to see them working hard.

Heather had a great day as well.

However, now both of the little rascals have lost their lunch bags....

July 4, 2005

Today was the first day of the daycamps, always a scary day. For them, and for me. I put a lot of time and energy into finding the right daycamp, and I am always concerned as to how it will turn out. This year, for the first time I was going to try the Y daycamp, Daniel in basketball, Heather in animation.

Well, it worked out well. Heather was hesitant, but once she was there and met her teachers then it was home free for me. She came home smiling and absolutely happy....they both were exhausted, always a sign of something good.....

July-3-2005

Today is Sunday. The kids were very tired, so I let them sleep in til 8:30am. They were up pretty late on July 1st, watching the fireworks and I knew that they needed a catchup day.

After breakfast, they played for a little while while I cleaned up and then we headed over to Lynn Canyon Park. There is a suspension bridge there, so we went for a walk in the park and the kids helped me take photos.
After our romp in the park, we had a light lunch which I had packed and headed to the Karen Magnusson pool. It is close by and is a wave pool. We had not been there before, so it was a new adventure.

Dinner is chicken and rice and raw vegetables tonight, relaxing watching movies....

Tomorrow will be a busy day, so early to bed tonight.

July-2-2005

Today is day 1.

Picked the kids up at 10am and we went to Kelowna for a quick visit with their cousins while I reduced their 2 suitcases to 1, leaving behind much of the clothing that we really did not need for this trip.

At about 12:30, or so...we headed out stopping at McDonalds for a quick lunch before we continued on to Vancouver. Normally, we hit the Coquitlam Pool on the way in, but today everyone was tired so we continued on. We stopped briefly at the toy store in Coquitlam, searching for Pokemon, but none were to be found.
We had a light evening, watching videos and playing Daniel's Game Cube.

Pickup Day

Funny how anxious I become on the day on which I pick up the kids for our summer break. I put a lot of time into organizing what they are going to do, daycamps and the like and I worry about how they will turn out.
This year we are trying a different summer daycamp experience. I am hoping it will be a great experience for both of them. The benefit, to me, is that they offer extended hours meaning I can drop the kids off earlier, and pick them up later. This means I can flex my work schedule rather than running like furry, as I have done in the past, to drop them off or pick them up.

Hoping for a good day.