Daily Kick In The Butt

I think there is no better way to invite a human being to view their body differently than by inviting them to be an athlete, by revering one's body as an instrument rather than just an ornament. It's a really great way to reorient how you see your body so you can see it as this incredible, awe-inspiring machine that you need to fuel well in order for it to function. 

Alanis Morissette, singer/actress opps

Kim Jong il, Our Dear Leader

guitars, guitars and more guitars

For those of you that read the blog, and enjoy seeing my musical instruments, your in for a treat. For everyone else, don't worry, my "showing of the guitars" is slowly coming to an end.

This week I'm featuring my Takamine Classical Guitar. With nylon strings and wide neck, it's definitely a classical guitar, though it's just called an Acoustic Guitar on the website and on the label in the sound hole. I think that's because of all the other features found on the guitar, such as the cut away neck, not usually found on a classical guitar

As with most things in life now, this guitar was made in China (but designed in Bloomfield, CT), and it wasn't very expensive at just under $500. But it sounds and plays and looks pretty good for a $500 guitar. Aidan made this guitar sing one night in Whistler. I don't think it's ever sounded so good. As my good friend Jordy would say "it's not the bike, it's the biker", which I guess can be said about much in life.

I do like to play a few classical songs, so it's nice to have this guitar handy. I've learned a Francisco Tarrega song, Estudio en Mi Menor, and would love to learn another of his called Gran Vals (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsp6dR-fL4A). It's so beautiful, along with all his music.

This guitar actually has an internal pickup, a preamp, an EQ (which I just leave in the middle position) and a must for me, a built in tuner. I've never had to play it anywhere where I would have to plug it into an amp, but if the need arises for me to play the intro to Killer of Giants or perhaps my tried and tested Blackbird, in front of more than 20 people, by god I'll be ready.

This guitar is more about having something to bring along on the road, maybe around the campfire, or like my fantastic trip to Whistler with Aidan and Gillian in November, it's just nice to have a guitar with you, one that you don't really mind if its accidentally destroyed in the process of getting it there, during or back.

Gillian did note when we were checking into our hotel room in Whistler, that I'm the third brother of Aidan's that she's met, and like all the others, am not very far from a guitar at any given time. And I think that was before she met Kevin, who I've seen on more than one occasion, cooking in the kitchen while hoisting his guitar up on his knee at the same time (stir, strum, stir, strum).

Many people that come into my home will usually and instantly comment on the amount of guitars I own. "oh my god, look at all the guitars. Why do you have so many?". Why? Why not? they are beautiful, and heck, if Lainie can drag me out to a restaurant to help her spend $800 on a dinner for 4, then I don't mind dropping $500 on another guitar.

Condom Packing Night

When I moved to Vancouver, I thought it would be nice to try and get involved in the gay community on a volunteer basis. I didn't really know what I was looking for, or what I'd like to do, I just felt I needed a change in scenery as I've spend such a huge part of my life surrounded by straight people (not that there's anything wrong with that,,, it's just "their choice",, and not for me).

It didn't take long for me to find Health Initiative for Men, or "HiM" http://checkhimout.ca/, a non-profit organization that, in their words; "We’re a community-based organization dedicated to strengthening the health and well-being of gay men. Our approach includes physical, sexual, social and mental health." A big part of the mandate is HIV prevention, and part of this strategy is the distribution of free condoms and lube into the "gay-bourhood" (hee hee,, I like that).

So every couple of Mondays, a group of volunteers get together in the evening, to package up two condoms, two packages of lube into a little box (that has safe sex info printed on it), times that by a couple of thousand, which is then distributed to the bars, restaurants, health clubs or where ever else gay men are going to be, I guess.

Tonight, there was over twenty people, crammed into HiM's boardroom from 6 to 10pm, as we packed up about 12,000 condoms. Yes, 12,000!!!! Tonight I took at few pics of exactly what "packing 12,000 condoms & lube into little boxes" looks like.

There seems to be an endless pile of condoms and lube on the table for hours,,,

Someone has to pre-fold the little boxes, so it's easier to fold them closed.

It's not rocket science, and it's kind of like working in a sweat shop, but you get a pretty good groove going.

Once folded, the boxes look pretty cool. The photography on the box is designed to attract a specific age group and demographic, the guys that are most likely to have unprotected sex. The models on the all the HiM info (these boxes, literature, website) are all regular local guys that volunteer as well.

there's lots of info on safe sex, and info on HiM all over, and in the box

and as a job well done, we all get a great meal. It's donated from local restaurants, after packaging 12,000 condoms, trust me, you're pretty hungry. As a little surprise, one of the volunteers had this great message on the inside of her pizza box from Hell Pizza http://hellpizza.com/ca/

The night is always a lot of fun, with great conversation, meeting new people for every walk of life. it's not just gay guys, but girls show up too (maybe they are lesbians,, who knows?) and I suspect there are some straight guy their too. But for the most part, it's just gay guys, hanging out, talking about TV, music, movies and what ever. There is lots of international flair, with someone from Mexico, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, New York, and lots more, even The Manitoulin Island.

I like it because everything that bugs me all day long, whether it's work or something at home,,, it all just drifts away as I sink into 4 hours of chatting with basically a group of strangers.

Props go out to Daniel who organizes the evening. He works at HiM part time, and attends school full time.

Also, I'm helping HiM develop their accounting procedures manual. I've been working with the executive director since December on this project, and it's coming along.

BTW - I ran 7K on Sunday,, and it felt great. :-) 

Worst Run or Best Run?

Since I started running about a month ago, I've tried to run Monday, Wednesday and Friday's with a fourth run on the weekend. It's gone quite well, and even though I've had to juggle a few days to keep the "4 runs a week" happening, I'm proud to say I've kept up with my schedule and I've felt pretty good each day I've got out there.

Until today.

I worked all day, then was in the dentist chair from 4:00 till 6:30 getting 6 (yes SIX) fillings,,, though they were quite small, then I walked home feeling pretty good. After a little time on the couch, I did what I've had to do over the last month or so and force myself off the couch, into my running shoes and out the door. Once out there, I felt terrible. Not so bad that I thought I was causing injury or was going to pass out. But I was sore, I was tired, my feet ached, I had zero energy and my "6K Run" was more like a "6K Shuffle". It was actually a little embarrassing.

Maybe it was the local anaesthetic in my system, or maybe it was the two and half hours laying slightly upside down'ish in the dentist chair, or maybe it just wasn't my day for running. Whatever the reason, my Nike+ GPS watch didn't lie. It tried to cheer me up by letting me know I had broke a record with longest run time. HA, yeah,, longest run all right. That will happen when you running about as fast as The Queen Mum at 101 with two new hips. While I was out there, I felt like this was my worst run ever.

But, I did it. 6.07K, in 37 minutes 24 seconds, burning 585 calories, with a pace of 6'10". Not one for the record books, but it was still my Wednesday run, and as much as I didn't want to go to begin with, and as much as I wanted to stop while I was out there, and as much as I wish my stats were a lot better for today, it was still exactly what I set out to do. And that's get into shape, lose some weight and start feeling good about myself again.

I've been pretty active in my life with skiing, biking, hiking, kayaking, and just getting out enjoying the great outdoors. But those activities are fun. Running, well that takes determination. You have to reach down inside you and find something you don't use very often. You have to beat the excuses off with a baseball bat. And that's just to get to the start line.

So as I sit here tonight, the freezing has warn off, my jaw is aching a bit (more than my legs, feet or knees), I'm wondering if instead of feeling like today was my worst run, I should actually be extremely proud of myself, as I faced those excuses head on today, and won.

I'm thinking that today was actually one of my best runs.

not much to say today

so here are some pics,,,

me and mom at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games, the Men's Long Program in Figure Skating. We were in the nose bleed section, but it didn't matter. Couldn't believe we were actually there.

Tamara and I in Montreal at Paige's first Age Group Nationals, what a great week we had. Paige did amazing (as usual), and Tamara and I got some serious catching up as we spent days sitting on the metal bleachers.

Yours truly at the top of Mt Washington on Vancouver Island. I'm so glad I got into skiing, it really makes for an amazing weekend with friends.

This is my Whistler biking buddy Adam. We're at the GLC having lunch. I have no idea why he's looking at the menu, he's just going to order the Beef Dip. Adam gets here soon, can't wait to school him on the hill.

Here is Lainie and Grant at "The Royal Wedding" in Naramata on Okanagan Lake. The guy beside Grant was part of Lainie's entourage.

Nadene, me and Jordy at Grey Cup in Calgary.

Me and Paige'a'roonie hanging out in Victoria, cruising around in my ole Mazda B2200

Je me souviens

Listening too ACDC Highway to Hell while I write up this post. I'm running the turntable through my Insgnia brand amplifier/receiver for now. I think that Insignia used to be RadioShack,,, but who knows. Its kind of a crappy stereo amp, but it's doing fine until my 70s Yammy gets fixed. I was actually at a pretty cool store called LotusLand Electronics in Kitsilano, and saw such beautiful old stereos, turntable, speakers. Its a great store, so if my old (free) Yamaha amp doesn't make it back from the dead, I'll try and get something at LotusLand.

A few years back, a few of us from work got together, pulled out some guitars one night and started having some fun, playing songs, singing. We decided to try and put 10 songs together for the next staff Christmas party. We were having fun, working through our song list, practising, but something was missing. So, once again I found myself back at, you guessed it, Long & McQuade, were I picked up my "mexi-purple" Fender Jazz Bass. Kevin dubbed it "the mexi-purple" as it is made in Mexico, and it couldn't get much purpler (is that a word?). The great thing about a bass, is I don't think you need to be that good to make a real positive difference. The second you tap that E string,,, well,, it just rounds everything out. there is nothing worse than too many guitars. Of course, less than a week before our big performance, we also realised we needed a drummer, so we rented on. haha, He was great, just stepped in and played. Man we sounded great, or at least I thought we did. I don't get to play the bass much, but I do pick it up and try a learn something new. Currently trying to learn the bass line to Groove Is In The Heart, be Deee Lite. It didn't cost much, but definitely nice to have around,, just in case.

All is going well with my running. I've been able to up my distance to 6K, but that last few runs have been a bit sore on the knees. I'm hoping it's just something I have to push through as I get used to running this much. It reminded me of my first week on the road when I started biking across Canada. Man, EVERYTHING was sore. But, Steve Strachen mentioned that would happen, and that after about a week to 10 days, my body would be used to it. He was right then,,, I'm hoping his wisdom can be applied now.

Everything Old Is New Again

Well, I've been keeping up with my running,,, sort of. I ran Saturday, but skipped Sunday and Monday. Sometimes there is just way too much going on, or you really are just too tired to anything. I'm not going to make up excuses, but even Lance Armstrong takes a day or two off.

I've been running 5K, 4 times a week for most of the month of May, and my goal in June is to get that up to 6K, 4 times a week. June 2nd I ran 5.49K. I'm feeling good out there, but I'll admit it's a real challenge. Especially at the end of the run, when your trying to squeeze another Km out of your poor old legs. I'm out there trying though and I think that's all that really counts.

I don't think I'm seeing the results on the scale I want to see, but I think I'm looking better in the mirror. BTW if someone tells me that 'muscle weighs more than fat" I'm going to SNAP.

This past weekend saw the addition of some new (but actually old) items to my home. A very cool, and very free late 70's Yamaha Stereo Amplifier (a Yamaha CR-400 to be exact) and a Pioneer PL-516 Turntable. The turntable works like a dream, but the amp needs a little work. I did get it up and running for an album or two, but ended up blowing a fuse inside. Some "amp-techies" said that's common with old amps that need a good cleaning. It's been a while since I've had some vinyl in the house, in fact i gave all my records away when i moved out west 6 years ago. I'll tell you something, it was really nice listen to music this way. That disk spinning around, the glow of the speed adjusting light, turning those big heavy knobs on the amplifier, not to mention the amazing sound.

In an interesting twist, needed a bit more speaker wire, so headed down to London Drugs. It's close and I know they have some in there stereo department. While the staff were helping me, I noticed they had records for sale. New vinyl of rereleases. Pink Floyd, the Mama's and the Papa's, Steven Miller. Wow, a major chain store, is now selling albums again.

On Kevin's advice, I picked up the following, a 3 album beauty. I think it even comes with some weed. I can't wait to get that fuse fixed.