Peace life and ideas

Playoffs

2009-04-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

The Calgary Flames are down 2-0 in the playoffs. Here in Calgary this is enough to cast a noticable pall on the city.

But its just a game... Yes those faithful readers know I am a Toronto Maple leaf fan but still its just a game..

We collectively are being too serious

The journey is to be enjoyed and I for one am all in favour of being less serious

manana

"We shall never know all the good a simple smile can do."
Mother Teresa

Spring is in the Air

2009-04-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

I know... its been a long time since I posted.. So much has happened and yet the important things carry on.

This past weekend I went skiing for the first time all year. What could have been more important these last three months of winter than to experience life on the ski hill -where the scenery buoys you, the cold air refreshes you and that wipe out that you recover from reminds you that there is a lot of living yet .

I aways think that when you drive home from skiing that there ought to have been at least one moment that you were scared or that you thought..why the hell did I come down here. I always want that twinge of fear. I don't always want pain..or the "where did my ski go"

Its all about living.. enjoying life.. I have been committing myself to exercise, driving to do less work for work. Yes...I turned 50... it has been cathartic. Getting ready for the next half century- what do I need to enjoy as much of it as possible... health, money, friends.

so that's the plan

Trenton New Jersey

2008-05-24T19:13:00.001-07:00

This week I was in Philadelphia- the city of brotherly love - one of the oldest in America home of the writing of the declaration of Independence and many many other American historical points of interest.

I believe that the American Revolution against the British Empire was inspired by this taxation without representation. While I am sure that there were many other reasons for the resulting carnage I kind of felt like starting a little revolution this week myself for the same reasons.

At around 6 pm I was driving north on a highway toward Newark. There was on and off rain. I see the whirl of flashing police lights behind me so I pull over. I get out of the car (as cars whiz by) and the cop gets out of his car and tells me that I should have stayed in the car because I might get hit..

I say- hey what's the problem- I wasn't speeding - he says you didn't have your lights on.. I said thanks I will turn them on ... I say thanks but he says wait here.. So he writes a ticket. comes to the car and says he is sorry but I should have had my lights on.. says he has been to Calgary... loves the Flyers hates the Flames etc etc.. I say- hey 75% of the cars don't have their lights on and its too early- he says that the statute says that if you need your wipers on - you need your lights on.

I say -- you have to be kidding.. in Canada you would never get such a ticket.. unless you were being an idiot and they were looking for something.. He apologizes and says the only reason he is out there is to find traffic violations. He apologizes twice..

Here is the truth.. its taxation-- he pulled me over because it was a rental and he knows I would never fight it.. He is not proud of it but really he is taxing motorists.

In the end I want my day in court... he ticked off the area where he said conditions were dry... I am thinking of flying back mid June to go to court to save the 54$

Some days we have to stand up and be men. Start the revolution. Fix society!!!

Landing on Mars...

2008-04-27T20:08:00.001-07:00

Yes... This is a view from the airplane on the way to Rock Springs Wyoming.

It looks like the end of the earth and you wonder who or what would live there... but it is happening city if a little rough on the edges..

Rock Springs is at the southwest corner of Wyoming and is a hub of oil and gas activity.

Vacation...

2008-04-18T13:51:00.001-07:00

Ahhhh yess Vacation..... wooohooo... yes blogfans I went.

The boys have been going on golf vacation for 11 years and never invited me before!!!!!!!!! But did I get uppitty, feel left out or whine in any way...nope I was on vacation.

Yes we completed the boy cycle.. we golfed, played poker, drank beer and ate ridiculous food..

We did not chase women as its a pretty tame crowd but it was fun... Scotttsdale arizona sunny hot...cloudless..sunny hot... cloudless.. percitation free..sunny hot...

Lets hope they don't wait 11 years before they invite me again..

Stole my fish....

2008-04-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

Ahh..Florida... the land of sun and sand...

yes I was goofing off down there visiting the folks and I got a couple of hours to go fishing... Of course I had to buy a rod at Kmart... and bait and a a bait bucket... but for 21$ it was fabulous value.. I caught 8 fish most of them small. This one I gave the my good friend the blue heron -the rest I threw back except for the one the pelican stole pretty much out of my hand...

It was great...

Why why why?

2008-03-29T05:29:00.001-07:00

The Toronto Maple Leafs have been eliminated from the playoffs again for the third straight year. It has been 41 years since they last won the Stanley cup. Yet to me, and their fans everywhere, we are not switching teams--- we will continue to love the victories and get a sense of disappointment with the losses.

Maybe its the tribal tendencies coded into my DNA but I can't shake the Leafs. I live in Calgary where the Flames have a much better team than the leafs, better personalities, more exciting playing styles and a much more community minded ownership group. But I can't shake the Leafs-- I have tried but in my heart I want them to win, to beat the Flames, and to have that parade in downtown Toronto.

When I play hockey this Sunday the men in the dressing room will all get after me as they see a Leaf fan as an ideal opportunity to make themselves feel taller...(this is for the odd chance that one of them reads this blog) I will take it with a smile and pine for next year when the Leafs will rise again. I will stomp around and boast that next year we will be back and that we were a playoff team from Christmas on... It will be complete bullsh*t but when you are in the tribe you are in the tribe.

For those who are Leafs fans or for you out there who have backed losers for a long time ...

Have Faith -the Leafs will rise again and once more Lord Stanley`s cup is going to be ours!!!

Go Leafs!

I don't get it........

2008-03-22T04:01:00.000-07:00

I sat beside a guy on the plane from Houston to Orlando this week and I confess I really don't understand. He was with his wife and two children on their way to Disneyland

We are talking about the picture of the all american boy- short haircut lean (we Canadians might call it nerdy ) good job in the engineering world, father was a professor of engineering. Obviously successful money not an issue. Blond wife, fit, well behaved kids etc etc

Very "Christian" ... donates money regularly to the homeless shelter. Very republican

Talks about God in his life and how God will show him the way. How much of our destiny is preordained.

Claimed to want to pursue a career in politics.

So I asked him the questions..

So what about immigration? Send them back. Let them apply for citizenship once they are back in Mexico. You can't just let them live here and not pay taxes.

So what about Universal healthcare... It would bankrupt America and run taxes through the roof. Our taxes are too high already.

Soooo.. it just doesn't square with me -- How can the Christian right expouse these things but bypass the love one another theme of Christianity.

In our zest to read the bible do we get bored before the new testament?

Happy Easter.......

Basketball ya gotta love it...

2008-03-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

I did not grow up with basketball. We played ball hockey, baseball and football. We constantly played sports but there were no courts when we were kids and it was not really part of my upbringing. My Dad has no favorite team and would rather watch curling. ( I was shocked to drive by a grade school in a poor area of Longbeach California and at least see forty courts set up in the schoolyard) Our school yard ---well.....

I did play for the school team in grade nine where I was a fat (ok stout) guard who had more fouls than points. But that was really just a sideline between other sports.

Some where along the way I started watching US college basketball and it hooked me. I loved Christian Laetner's 1.7 second left shot against Kentucky. I love that there are no perfect teams and many many good teams. That it will depend on the day and the game as to who wins. That even stout guards with sweet shots can make a big splash . That Duke and their lack of size can win if they play tough and sink threes but can lose.

The championship tournament for US college BBall starts tonight with the play in game. 65 teams start and its a one loss elimination tournament. You have to win 6 straight games to be the national champion. Of the 750 or so players in the tournament less than 40 will get drafted by the NBA. It will be four weeks of entertainment. (ok for Blessed it might not last that long) With the rest of the boys at work we pick the winners of the tournament. Last year I went for all underdogs and got slaughtered (I think across the US I was in the 9th percentile of 4 million players) but the year before I pulled a rabbit out the hat and ended up in the 91st percentile.

Yes you can all pick your winners ((((http://games.espn.go.com/tcmen/frontpage))))

It makes you want to go out and shoot a few hoops.. Come on... lets play some basketball. March madness and the tournament grows on you.

Madrid brought me back...

2008-03-15T07:33:00.000-07:00

Ok.... so I have never been to Europe before. Almost fifty and never having experienced history. Work sent me to Madrid for a week and I loved it.

Yes I worked but I also walked the streets - took pictures, tried out my very limited Spanish to find my way. The architecture is fabulous... street after street of attractive apartments, colours, finishing features. NO large stores (I am sure they exist but not in the areas I went to)...

Interesting things...

Every bar has snacks... fancy snacks like prosciutto like ham on a piece of bread with a slice of melon on top... or fancy cheeses or salmon on hard biscuits, or these sandwiches that an artist must have designed.. so you order a cervesas and they give you a snack....they are fabulous.. typical 2 euros or 3$ for a beer...wine is less..

The food was much blander than I had imagined.. I thought it would be like Mexican food.. no.. bland.. beautifully prepared and smaller portions - the Mexicans with us..bring their own spices or they go crazy..

The subway... at least 10 lines criss cross Madrid..maybe 3 or 4 times the amount in Toronto.. fabulous system

I felt safe but I was with a coworker who got pickpocketed... a little blocking from the subway car exit and a few "policia!!!'s" later the wallet mysteriously appeared about 10 ft away. But he was an idiot.. wearing running shoes???? and keeping his wallet in his back pocket..

There are few overweight people there... very few... its noticeable..

The architecture is gorgeous... beautiful parks all over...

The big thing was that it was a pick me up. It makes you want to go back...

Travelling is tiring...

2008-01-20T18:30:00.000-08:00

I am sick of travelling.. I want to stay home and shoot pucks at my net.

I know there are more important things in life. War in Iraq, rebuilding Afghanistan, no universal health care in America... the plight of native Canadians, being kind to people, etc etc

But sometimes I don't want to save the world. I want to take slap shots. It seems so selfish.

Am I more selfish or less selfish than other people? Yes I contemplate this as I shoot pucks for no purpose. This really shouldn't be the question--- the real question is "Did I make the world a better place this week ?" (failed miserably) and "will I make the world a better place this week"

I need something more than puck shooting to be proud of myself this week.

Our Lives....

2008-01-12T19:53:00.000-08:00

Neil Gaiman.............., ."May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself."

What is our year going to be like... am I going to help the world be better or just my family? Will I cherish art? Will I be less focussed on work and more on life? Money is not all its cracked up to be. Will I do home improvements or build that boat?

I need all these things --- and I need the world to come along... We have such a wealthy society- we need to change it and help bring life forward..

I know I have been missing for a month but I am back.

Winter wilderness

2007-12-08T19:29:00.001-08:00

Winter is here and its the coldest November December in 5 years here. When we had the warmest July in 5 years we all worried about climate change.

I love winter but even I have to pry myself to get out when its below -10 C yet when I do I love it...I love the cold..the coffee afterward.

Now some of us go to San Salvador and lie on the beach and some of us go outside and watch our breath come alive from our mouths and feels the snow crunch beneath our feet.

Maybe I just love coffee...

I do have a confession... I shot this picture from the plane as I returned from three days in San Fran... while they froze here....

Poetry Saturday

2007-12-01T18:30:00.000-08:00

" The top two are from Peggy's Cove in the recent hurricane.... the bottom two are from my trip there in July.... Why the sea would call us is hard to fathom...but it does....

" Exiled”

Searching my heart for its true sorrow,
This is the thing I find to be:
That I am weary of words and people,
Sick of the city, wanting the sea;

Wanting the sticky, salty sweetness
Of the strong wind and shattered spray,
Wanting the loud sound and the soft sound
Of the big surf that breaks all day.

Always before about my dooryard,
Marking the reach of the winter sea,
Rooted in sand and dragging driftwood,
Straggled the purple wild sweet pea.

Always I climbed the wave at morning,
Shook the sand from my shoes at night,
That now am caught beneath big buildings,
Stricken with noise, confused with light.

If I could hear the green piles groaning.
Under the windy, wooden piers,
See once again the bobbing barrels,
And the black sticks that fence the weirs;

If I could see the weedy mussels
Crusting the wrecked and rotting hulls,
Hear once again the hungry crying
Overhead, of the wheeling gulls;

Feel once again the shanty straining
Under the turning of the tide,
Fear once again the rising freshet,
Dread the bell in the fog outside,

I should be happy!—that was happy
All day long on the coast of Maine.
I have a need to hold and handle
Shells and anchors and ships again.

I should be happy, that am happy.
Never at all since I came here.
I am too long away from water;
I have a need of water near.

- Edna St. Vincent Millay

Negative Advertizing is Un Canadian

2007-11-25T20:31:00.000-08:00

During the hockey game on TV last night I was again subjected to irresponsible stupid political advertising. This time it was the Conservative party of Canada running anti Stephane Dion ads under the banner "not a leader" They even have a website called notaleader.ca

Its embarrassing that these ads would even be marginally effective.

Negative ads follow the same pattern. They take a quote from the target -out of context - then add their own words around the quote to make the target look like an idiot. They usually add a picture of their intended victim in some less and positive position or facial impression to finish off the piece.

Canadians should go to Notaleader.ca and look at the tv advertising to see the depth of the irresponsible crap being pushed forward.

I will be honest- I am not a fan of Stephane Dion but we need to take the high road and everytime a conservative politician comes with earshot hammer him or her for assuming the electorate has a single digit IQ and making divisive advertising.

For those of you who are not familiar with Canadian politics- Stephane Dion is the leader of the Liberal party and the Conservative party lead by Stephen Harper is currently in power. There is no election underway but one could be called at anytime.

Stupid ads during hockey should be banned as a matter of course..

Ski Season opens...

2007-11-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

yes winter is here..the lake is frozen over, it was 2F this morning and there was a couple of cars in the ditch...

so I went to ski... its US thanksgiving and I celebrated by giving thanks for quiet phones and no meetings and distracted coworkers by heading for the mountains .

The sense of renewal is always startling for me.

it begins when there is that wave of fear when you get to the top of the lift for the first run... will I have forgotten.. , its too cold...( it was -14 C ) , I should take an easy run.... in the end I never do that... I get started it feels good and away I go..

Fear when you ski is part of the appeal... we are men- if we don't get at least a little scare it never feels right... I caught an edge wiped out and the day was good.. I need that... I don't really want to live a safe life I want to take risks- start a business or ski over my head either one has to happen or richard is a dull boy

today was a great day... even the bighorns were out having fun...doing guy stuff together

Bhagdad to KC one day...

2007-11-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of Remembrance day I can tell you that it is completely possible to detest the war in Iraq and still support those who are there..

On my way from Dallas to Kansas city I sat beside a woman in military fatigues. She had been travelling all day. Bhagdad to Kuwait, Kuwait to Germany, Germany to Atlanta, Atlanta to Dallas, Dallas to Kansas city. I am sure she was not particularly interested in being interrogated by the hockeyman but here is what she had to say.

She is a captain and she is on mid leave for 18 days on here second tour of duty in Iraq. She sill go back for 6 more months in a couple of weeks.

This tour she has a boring job working in an office job in the engineering group. She works in a group that rebuilds bridges. Boring boring work... in the office at 630 am leaves at 830 at night..

They are supposed to get one day off a week but there is nothing to do so they end up going to work every day.

Fun -- go work out at 830 when she leaves she goes for a run and goes to bed.

Accommodations.. lives in a trailer with one other person about the size of one dorm room

Scared..no not really... she works within a base with almost no contact with Iraq's. There have been people killed within the base from mortars and every time you hear the alarm go off it makes you nervous a little but no where near like her first tour.

First tour of Iraq...her job was as a squad leader of 14 soldiers and a Sargent and she would lead them out on patrol or disarming unexploded bombs or other fun stuff.

Her parents--- completely non military and would do cartwheels if she announced she was leaving the military

She got into it in high school... hanging around with the military crowd (I am not really sure what this is... in Canada we don't really have a military crowd) then in college she joined to help pay for school.

her goal is to stay on active duty two more years and then find a guy and have a couple of kids. She was on her way to see her boyfriend who is a major...

Likes Hillary for president

Absolutely normal pleasant woman who loves her country and is completely committed to her job.

Even though the war is completely crazy here is woman who builds bridges and works hard to do justice to her commitments.

Morale in the troops... If you have a real mission like she does or patrolling then its good... if you don't have enough to do like you are the transport group and nothing has to be moved for weeks then you think its a complete waste of your life..

Peace to all on Remembrance day

the end....

2007-10-27T07:29:00.001-07:00

Optimistic... you will find peace...

Fatalistic.. the end will come

But it doesn't have to be the end to be ok..

deep statements from the web

I hate this...

2007-10-23T18:48:00.001-07:00

I hate this... I know I said this already. I have to agree on the finishes to a condo which I might end up renting out... Do I spend an extra 1200$ for the cherry wood cabinets and black granite or do I take the standard choice in picture 2.

First the Condo is supposed to be ready in August 2007 then October 2007 then March 2008 now Sept 2008. Now they call me and say I have four days to come and meet them and decide...

How does something get to be so late?

How do I decide?

Opinions are welcome..

Gore Wins Nobel Peace prize

2007-10-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

Huh... did I miss Al's peace initiative? Al is on the environment band wagon but peace? Here is what the committee said...." The Norwegian Nobel Committee stated in its formal citation that Gore is "probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted" to reduce the effects of global human-caused climate change. Both recipients were praised for focusing "on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the world's future climate, and thereby reduce the future threat to the security of mankind."

No one believes more than I that we need to protect our planet. I am not sold on man made climate change but that doesn't mean that I don't think that we shouldn't protect the planet.
Personally I think that world peace is more important than global warming.

The sad truth is that there probably was not a great peacemaker in the world this year. We are awash in conflicts with no pearson , no jimmy carter and no mahatma ghandi's handy.

I was out enjoying the planet today. It was crisp and clear and peaceful..You wish everyone could have a day like that... and yes Al... in spite of your erroneous reporting-- you can see winter is on its way to Canada at least..

The leafs and life

2007-10-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Yes Hockey season is back. Although I love to play hockey I am also a fan. All my life I have cheered for the Toronto Maple leafs. I remember clearly when they last won the cup in 1967. I always start every season with optimism that they will repeat.

They haven't -- they have good teams but fail in the playoffs or bad teams and don't make it that far. You think one year will be our year but it never seems to work out.

As a leaf fan you have to enjoy the season and each game because or else you will live your life depressed for the last 40 years.

Kind of like life itself. You might want to win the cup every year and believe you can do it but it just doesn't happen that way. Someone has to win but it might not be you. I have to kick myself to enjoy the day or the moment and not to worry too much about winning the cup. If I do it will be grand but having a winning season is good. To wallow in pain because the cup is not won would be a waste of 40 years.

So.. I will exercise tomorrow. I will eat smartly. I will have a couple of conversations with friends. I will do something charitable. and I wont worry that I might still be fat out of shape and not Mother Teresa a year from now. I want to enjoy every moment.

In the meantime lets go leafs...

Waste

2007-09-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

Ok... I have been busy doing home renovations... tearouts, framing, electrical and plumbing..

One of the highlights of this work is the trip to the dump. Really.. for some reason waking up at 7 on a Saturday and loading the truck with junk and taking it to the dump is somehow a great start to a Saturday. Tim Hortons coffee, the yard cleaned up.. that elusive sense of accomplishment creating a warm feeling.

The dump is interesting... you always see good stuff there... there a couple of cheap pressure washers there almost everytime.. the wood is significant.. one time I could not pass up a wheelbarrow in perfect condition.. You would think that if the city allowed salvage scavengers it would be good all around.. they could rescue good stuff and keep the landfill volume down.

But today..it just smells and the seagulls look on anxiously...

In Calgary the price is obscenely low... 5$ for the first 500lbs... 30$ a ton after that... I can dump a truckload for 5$

It does seem like a waste... good stuff buried.. wood and metal all mixed in and not recycled, methane vented and not collected.

Hockey is getting started..the renovation is just about done... the environment will have to follow that..

HOCKEY IS COMING!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

Take note of the picture. The poplars are starting to turn!!!!! I saw two leaves flutter to the ground.

Pond hockey cannot be far away.

Yes of course, it was a glorious day in the mountains today seventy five and clear. And there is no real hint of winter other than a little frost this week.

But there is no mistaking it-- summer is fading and fall is proceeding.

I love to play hockey on a frozen lake or pond more than just about anything. So for me the cool nights are encouraging even if we are still months away.

I shall see if we have a quick winter if concern over global warming cools. I am still undecided on the effect of global warming. I note that we are having a warm summer and the warmest since the 1930's. Sooooooo... what was so special about the 1930's. I know I know... the CO2 content in air is up to the high 379 ppm's... But this encourages plant growth which removes the CO2 from the air.. If I really believed in the effect of global warming I would invest in shipping through the Northwest passage. (Which was completely open this year)

Fall is coming/here lets enjoy it.

Do you Remember When

2007-08-16T16:02:00.000-07:00

When I think back to my childhood I can only recall where I was when I received the news of three major world events......

1) I was in my living room in Sudbury when JFK was shot.. (yes 4 years old)

2) I was opening up my bundle of Toronto Globe and Mail papers when the headline "KING SLAIN IN MEMPHIS" leapt out at me. I did wonder who King Slain was but of course Martin Luthor King had been shot in Memphis.

3) I was on a roof about 120th St and about 116th Ave in Edmonton thirty years ago when the news of Elvis's death came over the radio. I was part of a framing crew for TG construction and we were busy putting up the roof trusses and nailing the plywood roofboards on top.

I have no idea why I remember these events so vividly. I was not an Elvis fan. He was before my time. We all knew who he was and maybe out of 50 or 60 LP's I think I had one Elvis. But he was the generation before me. A friend of mine's mother cried all evening. The leader of the framing crew dropped his hammer in shock. To me it was not that big a deal and yet I remember it clearly.

It seems so long ago framing that house. I should try to find it the next time I am in Edmonton. (yes I live a boring life)

Elvis is clearly a marketing genius. In death or in life. If he had lived for another 10 years would Memphis have the tourism it has today with the Graceland magnet or would he just be another tired old ex star still trying to use the magic of mixing to keep it entertaining. Death made him bigger than ever, like a painting growing in value with age.

Back to the basic question---why do we remember what we remember? Its mystery

"A Mari usque ad Mare"

2007-08-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

yes..from sea to sea.

I love Halifax. Plain and simple - people, architecture, the ocean, the people, the seafood.

I jogged the harbour walk two mornings this week. Completely unlike Hermosa beach in California. at 6 am Hermosa is full of joggers and bikers. At 6 am in the harbour in Halifax- the fog is thick, its quiet, you can hear a fog horn in the far distance occasionally, but there are few people about. two lone joggers in a half an hour.

This is a picture of the fishing harbour at Peggy's cove. I had some time on my hands so I went to eat at the restaurant there. Seafood chowder and fisherman's hash was not exactly diet food but it was tasty and exactly what I was looking for. The best time to go to Peggy's cove is when the wind is up and the waves are crashing. You can have a coffee in the restaurant and see God's wrath all around you beating on the rocks in a never ending battle of forces.

There is something about hanging out by the sea. Looking for the rogue wave that will wipe you off your perch on the rocks.

Its peaceful.

LA Confidential

2007-07-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ok thats enough of the spooning post.

Yes this week I was in LA. Mostly on business but every morning I woke up at 530 to go jog/waddle on the beach. Hermosa beach... wide open with a concrete sidewalk fro biking jogging walking or roller blading. You can go for miles. Hundred of people do. The sidewalk is busy all day .

I saw a for lease sign on one of these beach side units. 7500$ a month for nothing shorter than a one year lease.

It got me thinking. If I took a year and lived on the beach would I love it or would I be bored. probably 100k$ ---one year. Could I turn it all off for a year and just concentrate on my health. Ride the bike 20 miles every morning. Play beach volleyball, walk the beach in the evenings, focus on low fat no carbohydrate food. 100K$ is a big bill.

This is all the result of having lunch with my university buddy. We are both overweight and running 100 miles an hour jobs. We agreed that at his point what we need most is health. At 48 the career is achieved but we are going to need our health. Both our fathers work out every day and are in better shape than we are. We now have a pact to get in shape by 50. Real shape.

So I am on an exercise binge- hence the jogging on the beach, the big bike ride yesterday, the one hour of swimming. But will it be enough? If I had the 100K$ would I go for it?

Probably not. I love work too much. I would never blow 100K even if I had it. I am a little too conservative to live in Hermosa Beach California for a year. Its sad. I hate myself for even saying that.

In defence of the Spoon...

2007-07-21T08:11:00.000-07:00

Can we men write about intimate topics? This is a challenge but I will try.....

I was recently challenged by a blog reader to comment on what men need. My standard answer is Beer Sex and TSN.... (for those not from the land of the red mapleleaf...TSN is our version of ESPN) This glib ridiculous answer usually placates the masses and allows us to spend more time goofing off.. Yes its ridiculous.. men need tools.. power saws.. drills...gas powered stuff.. an air compressor... steaks..we need to play hockey not just watch... GOLF etc etc... we are just as needy as the rest of the planet but try to make it simple in Beer sex and Tsn and we try to move on.

I was whaled upon with the spoon... "Don't you like to spoon" "how come that's not on your list" "cuddling and spooning are never part of men's lists" My first response is you have to be kidding me... we men can spoon... we may not make a big deal about it...but we spoon..

Spooning can be vital is getting another shot at item 2.

There is an art to it... you do not want to be there cramped in there all night... she can tetherball you if she has too but you don't want to stuck there.

Most men know. the spoon - we imagine its what women want.. so we need to do it.. lets face it its not complicated.. but there are a few simple rules..

First --- never spoon just for the heck of it.. men in the neighbourhood will hate you, we will kick you out of the club.. Spooning always has a purpose. There are really four key types..." pre", "post", "hey I was thinking about golfing in the morning" or "the I really screwed up bad"

The last two are self explanatory... you hang in there as long as you can until she purrs... or self extricates herself.. if she self extricates- you will have to move to another technique unless you can hold position until she makes her point and then refolds herself in...if that happens you are golden.. if it doesn't well... lets look on the bright side.. you still have power tools to play with in the morning.

the keys to the pre and post are to be patient. We all prefer the pre. It has an intrinsic end point. its not always possible but that's life... This is key but in the end they have a couple of steps regardless of whether its pre or post.. . don't talk much "(is this enough spooning" is a pure rookie mistake)... little talking and you can claim the cuddle at the same time.. " slow movements... don't go for it... touch other parts for once.. stroke the arm.. I know it sounds stupid but go ahead... let her relax.. its ok - in fact desired for you to get excited but hold that thought for a while... this is important always kiss the neck... ... when she starts to make soft noises... poof you are almost done...

see That was not that hard. We men are much less superficial than you imagine. We look at life in depth we just don't talk about it much...

Dial Up...

2007-07-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

Tonight I am a 48 year old man currently in his parents basement surfing the net on a dial up connection.

I know I should be happy. If I am on business in Toronto I always stay with my parents. They are hurt if I don't and really its ok... My mother has breakfast on the table in the morning. She stands by to pour the milk in my cereal or my coffee because I must be incapable of doing such a task. my coffee is poured for me and brought to the table and my grapefruit is sugared and pre cut to make my life easier...

My dad pontificates on how much fibre he is getting and how much I am getting etc etc etc..

We all watch baseball on TV in the evening even though I am not much of a fan... but all of that is ok if....

I wasn't spoiled on high speed internet.... this post has no picture because it would take too long to find one... I feel myself growing older with every minute of dial up...it wears on you

so... there is no interesting post tonight (not that its common to have one) I am bored to tears in the basement and there is no escape... its about a 28k connection at best..

yes I am spoiled..tell me what you are doing tonight so I can feel worse...

Saint Louis Misoury

2007-07-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yes it was St. louis week... It looks idyllic -the arch, the downtown view, the mississipi, the riverboats.. Unfortunately the photogragher of this picture (supplied via google image) must have been standing in the middle of the strip club haven where there must be four "gentlemens clubs all packed together" or maybe you are further south and you are in the midst of oldtime chemical plants and superfund sites and where odd odours permeate the air and you spend your time thinking this can't be healthy... or maybe you are further north in the midst of East St. Louis Illnois where pockets are really really rough and crime has driven away easy living...

Then we have downtown St. Louis where the core of the city is built up and punctuated by great architecture- the city hall is beautiful... the glory of the twenties is evident everywhere.

I stayed in down town and when I drove up to the hotel Sunday night (albeit 1 am Monday morning) the front parking lot is empty and a security guard directs you to the caged lot at the back.. there is a paddy wagon and two police cars evicting some guests...

St. Louis proper is said to have 350K residents who sleep there and 1.1 million residents during the day. its hard to have a good tax base like that and so there are rough areas... beautiful architecture is boarded up waiting for the next boom...

The people are good though... The guys in our plant are solid hardworking family people who just want to do the job and go home. I know a lot of them by name and many more of them talk to me like they know me. There is seemingly no racial tension in the plant -the guys just seem to get along.. The African American woman who is behind the counter at the hotel is happy that I am back and seemingly oblivious to the police action in the rear as she is checking me in..

people are people.. the car rental shuttle driver was great... retired from the steel mill after 37 years... been married for 40 and wants to keep it that way... allergic to mold... went to Niagara falls Canada once... and calls Canada the land o f the toonie and the loonie.. ( i gave him both for a tip.. all this in the ride from the airport to the rental cars

I am not a fan of the city but it makes for an interesting week

Am I missing life?

2007-07-07T20:33:00.000-07:00

How much of life do we miss because we fail to engage life around us?

I was on vacation all week and I dedicated myself to exercising and working on my basement. The basement is a saga job, it will take me about a year to finish- mostly because I do not work on it religiously and work normally wears me down. none the less the week was good, climbed the mountain, rode about 100 miles on various bike rides and swam a little.

The one thing I did not do was play golf.. I play about 2 or 3 games a year but I love golf. None of the usual suspects were around to play this week so I thought I it was not to be.

yes I am getting to the point...

This morning I woke up at 5 am and I was lying there pondering life itself when a thought struck me. What I should do is drive to the Mountains and try to see if there was room for one person to play golf with a group. I lay there and argued with myself.. what if they don't do that, they probably have a waiting list, its looks overcast what if it rains etc etc... Finally i burst out of bed.. loaded my golf clubs, my bike and my hiking stuff in the car and headed out.. The bike and the hiking is just in case I was right.

Bottom line... I got on no problem.. played with this old guy who was great to play with. and it was glorious, in amongst the mountains. I shot a 99 which is about normal for me.

But what if I hadn't had that energy spurt..what if I had lay in bed and goofed off and not engaged the world? How much of life do I miss when I work too much or watch too much TV.

I think its logarithmic- you engage the world and you have multiple experiences that yield multiple more experiences.

Energy is our precious resource but I have to work my mind to avoid complacency

Stampede's coming to town....

2007-07-05T23:16:00.000-07:00

Yes Calgary is known for the Stampede and it starts tomorrow.. These pi cutes are from a Bull busting event at a local bar to warm us all up for the hoopla.

I can take about 57 minutes of rodeo...after that its like a car race where you find yourself waiting for the big wreck.. More Beer and a little empathy is in order.

Half of the event is just looking at the crowd. Big bellies and big belt buckles wander on by and you wonder why they wear those things. The "Bud Girls" flog beer and cleavage in equal measure but they look no more than 22 and so their appeal is limited to ice cold beer even if you are sentenced to bud lite. I have to admit that there is a strong appeal to the appearance of thirty/ forty something women wearing mid length skirts and cowboy boots. But the crowd is looking for fun and in a holiday mood and it is contagious even if the 57 minutes of enjoyable rodeo is over.

In Toronto there would probably be protesters on the cruelty to animals banner. There is no such thing in western Canada and in truth the cruelty on this day is on on humans as at least three bull riders were scraped up and helped off.. The best/ worse one was where the bull slipped and fell on the rider and then rolled off him. He staggers up and they announce that he is eligible for a re-ride..

The stampede starts tomorrow..let the fun begin...

Other pictures from the day....

2007-07-02T20:51:00.001-07:00

The mountian above is the one across from the one being climbed....what a backdrop...

The little white spec in the middle is a plane flying way below me as I climb up the trail.

You can see the town of Canmore Alberta way below.......

The Mountain and Me

2007-07-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yes I went to climb to the top of this peak on Canada Day. It is a humbling experience.

It is a relatively easy mountain to hike to the top of. One woman did it in 48 minutes. But for me it is not so simple. There are no flat spots. Ok one that is about 20 ft long. You start up from the parking lot at the back and you start up and really it never stops climbing until you are right at the top of the peak.

I do this to see if I am getting in shape, to show that I can still do it like I used to. Its supposed to be therapeutic. Climb to the peak stand on top look down on creation and feel strong..

As I was sitting by the trail gasping for breath I pledged to exercise everyday the rest of my life. I was winded, whipped and by the end my legs wobbled. But I went up and stood there.. I did not give in to the demons on my shoulder that said.. rest go home now... you've come far enough..

At one point another hiker spotted a bear across the rocks. I could barely make him out even with my zoom lens on my camera.. The demon says "go back there's a bear... its dangerous"..but luckily reason prevails.. the bear was a long ways away and running the other way. And since at this point I was above the treeline with only rock ahead of me the idea that a bear might find this terrain appealing is a little ridiculous even for my demon.

It was a little disconcerting at the top as I am there peering over the cliff -- three climbers are rapelling up the cliff and climbing over the top edge about 20 ft down. Now that'll startle ya a little...

The deed is done... one mountain is climbed.. I am looking for a new one...

What is fun........

2007-06-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hmmm this is an interesting question.. what does the Hockeyman consider fun?

I think to start with we have to agree that there is a difference between enjoyment and fun. I find enjoyment in reading a novel. (7 books this year, last novel DeNiro's game, current novel Sammy's hill) Its hard to describe it as fun.

I think fun has the ability to make us smile ear to ear and perhaps even laugh out loud...

So.. I like to play hockey... playing hockey is fun, watching hockey is enjoyable. Pick up hockey on the pond in the winter is way fun..

Talking to interesting people is fun. I travel a lot so I am in situations where I meet people who might in other situations not tell you their story. But on a plane or waiting in line or having breakfast they tell you their story... whether they are an investment banker from chicago coming for a wild ski holiday or a woman who left Vancouver because the "Toronto GUYS" had moved in and forced her out of the drug selling business, or the marine private on his way to iraq I love to talk to people about heir lives.. this can be fun..

The hockeyman loves a physical challenge... I will be walking up a mountain this weekend and should I get tot he top I shall be like a little boy proud as a peacock.

teasing people in a fun way is fun... people like to be poked...My brother and I had fun two weeks ago at his fiftieth birthday party ...him teasing me...me poking him... wearing my "50 years of Joe" tshirt

yes I like parties and I like going for a drink but really its all about meeting people and getting them to really talk to you....if that happens its way fun..

yes I like art, I like music (meatloaf) but fun is more complex..

come on.... what are the two things that are most fun for you

mexico...interesting

2007-06-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

This week I was in Mexico for a couple of days. I will make the following observations.

1) Monterrey is not nearly as poor a place as you imagine. Its coming closer to looking like an american city. Construction in many places, lots of car dealers, fewer very poor neighborhoods

2) ten years ago mexico was a bargain, now the prices are still lower but they start to approach america...In the airport a coke and a sandwich cost me 6$ US... it would be 9 in the US

3) Mexico has been defeated many times in war and it hurts their psyche, The Museum tour guide went through the history of mexico and the various times mexico city had been ravaged by the spanish, the french and the americans, not to mention the various civil wars. It struck me that had even one of these events gone differently Mexico might be a powerhouse today.

4) Mexico is the 11th largest economy in the world...

5) The food is fabulous... the scent and taste lingers with me even now...

6) They open your luggage manually in the open as you leave the country. Pack your private tings anywhere but the top. The poor woman with false breasts in the top of her suitcase in front of me just looked like she wanted to die...

7) The people are fun loving, big sense of family, proud.

8) The architecture and the history is interesting.. Did you know that when the spanish first entered Mexico city they encountered a rack with a 160 thousand heads of sacrifice victims..Did you know they had a french emperor?

all in all interesting...there was no time for fun but it was interesting... NO...the hockeyman does not find the museum fun.. but hey...

Summer Satisifaction

2007-06-11T07:22:00.001-07:00

I am back... and No for those who wonder I have not found myself nor solved the problems of the world. There is still too much war and violence and too much poverty but I was not away fixing such.

On the hockey scene Calgary and Toronto were eliminated early so my interest in the playoffs was for a hockey enthusiast rather than a real fan. The good news is that once the Ducks won the cup the Leafs are back in it... I think this is our Year.

I have been making my peace with the world on my weekly hike. This week I was in the elbow valley on a day of mid sixties, a bit of sunshine and a slight breeze. The walk exhausts me but gives me time to think. to get myself organized and to think of things that slip by us during the day. I have often though that it would be good to have a hiking partner but there is a certain satisfaction that emanates from a a journey in solitude. You think more. I don't think the world thinks enough.

yes when you are walking up a continual slope you do think.."why did I come on this stupid hike" but when you finish and start back down from the summit its all worth it... The scenery is so green- sucking the carbon dioxide out of the air... you just have to marvel at the expanse of it all..

My goal is to to walk to the top of a mountain whose summit is well above the treeline. I am hoping to be ready for the weekend at the end of June....

other than that life is ok...work is crazy...

Two more Canadian Soldiers Died Today

2007-04-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

Two more Canadian soldiers died in Afghanistan today after six were killed on Easter Sunday.

It was like you could hear our country deflating. I was watching the families of the six from the weekend as they were returned to Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Ontario and other locales. Some were on their second tour, one took a demotion because he wanted to go, one was in the reserves. I know they are professional soldiers and this is their job, what they train for but the tragedy is no less painful.

I am sure all Canadians as themselves today- is it worth it..what are we doing there? Are we being effective? Does the chronically underfunded Canadian army have the best equipment that will keep them from harms way.

The truth is that we do not really get a good idea as to whether our mission of building a new peaceful and just afghan nation is being effective. We get very little news as to how we are doing. We do not really know if we are completing our assignments.

I support a mission of turning Afghanistan from a terrorist haven to a peaceful and just nation. I would pay more in taxes to make sure that the military has the best protection possible.

But I want an honest update-- because eight Canadians in a week is a big price to pay

Hockey... Hockey... Hockey

2007-03-31T20:56:00.000-07:00

The playoffs approach. Its time to start a little hockey talk. I am torn. I have loved the Toronto maple leafs since I was born. I have lived and died with them. I am still mad at my parents for not letting me stay up and watch the final in 1967 the last time they won the cup.

Yes its true I like playing better than watching. This week was a good week for that as my company had some ice time in Toronto and I was in town so I went out to play with the boys. It was great. really great... I hadn't seen a lot of those guys in years and so they were running me and I was running them and fun was had by all. It makes me mad to be slow or make bad passes but still it makes you feel so great to really leave it all out there. I think its the cool air and the freedom skating brings. I really don't know but to me it is the best sport to play.

It kills me to travel so much and not play more. Worse than that -rarely in the US can you see any NHL games and the coverage of the results is absolutely minimal. I have watched sports center for an additional half hour just to see what 15 second snippet I missed.

It will be a wild run to the playoffs. The Leafs will come back make the playoffs and beat buffalo in six games in the first round. They will lose to the penguins in the next round. I think it will be Ottawa as the team from the east. In the west..I predict the Flames will win the west and go to the cup and lose to Ottawa. I love hockey...

Go leafs...

Renewal

2007-03-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

I went for the first hike of the season today and I was renewed in my spirit and my strength.

What most amazed me from the hike was the incredible renewal that occurs in the forest. There were many many trees down like this one...many rotten ones snapped 20 feet up. Some were obvious candidates- they clung to the rock cliffs with seemingly no soil below them, while others were in the middle flat ground with no weakness apparent. Last year the spring floods decimated this area and changed many trails, this year a wind storm must have wreaked havoc.

The weak are pruned and the strong survive to fight another wild wind or wintery blast..

It was not the killer hike. It was tame, relatively flat with great scenery. Four and a half miles. It was flat so it was not too tough, a two advil hike. Snowed on the way there, was sunny, the wind came up and dumped a few ice pellets, just a regular day.

its a great time to think....

Optimism

2007-03-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

The ice rink is finished and hockey season won't be far behind it. The snow is gone from the yard and we have already had an official shorts day....

Its always amazing how spring makes us feel optimistic. Tomorrow I will go on the first hike of the year- going nowhere but searching for the good feeling.. I know when I start I will be reticent.."why am I going" I could walk in the city" "its going to be muddy" " I bet the bears are just waking up and they will be hungry" etc etc...
But when its done I will have that satisfied smile the warm feeling that being in nature brings.. I will go myself and so I can think the whole time. what needs to be done..how I can improve.. etc etc...

I am looking at the trail map tonight planning the route..not to hard but not too tough either..

Its spring.. renewal is in the air lets walk or hike or bikram but lets be optimistic

The picture is from last April 23rd's hike so we are a month ahead I hope...

Was there ever a gulag....

2007-03-19T21:19:00.000-07:00

I read with interest this article.

Mastermind of USS Cole Attack Confesses

I can't decide whether I was naive then or whether "we" in the west have just swung from leading the good fight for what was right to a right wing hawkish society ready to act regardless of the bill of rights.

When I was a boy we were led to believe that the Soviet union was evil. That the people were good but they were repressed by the government. That Pravda (means truth) the news agency was controlled by the state and did not allow free speech. That the KGB would investigate honest dissent and for punishment if you complained you would end up in a gulag where they would work you to death and "reprogram" you. The police would lock you up and throw away the key without a trial. That once you got a trial that it was a sham. It was so bad they couldn't let the citizens travel because they would defect in a heartbeat..

was that true?

The problem I have is that when I read the article on the guy who confessed to terrorist acts after five years of captivity, is that you get the feeling that the confession was forced from him. He does not get a trial in open court. He spends five years behind bars being questioned in Guantanamo bay. He does not have the protection of the American constitution or the bill or rights. On the surface it sounds a lot like life in the gulag. Have we lost the moral high ground? If this is how we in the west act was the soviet system so bad? I am sure there is a kid reading about this somewhere in the world who believes that his country has the moral high ground and that the US is an evil empire with a neutered media and an out of control department of justice.

I would have never thought this possible. That we in the west would lose the high ground; That John Wayne truly is dead; That we would question whether what is written is really true.

I am sure that this guy is an evil person, that he is guilty -but in our zeal to prove his guilt have we lost the superiority over the gulags of our youth?

Was I incredibly naive back then or have we changed?

The Hoover Dam,... and Las Vegas

2007-03-08T04:05:00.000-08:00

Yes the hockeyman went south this week to Las Vegas and Kingman Arizona. Interesting is the only way to describe it...

above is a picture of the Hoover dam - the famous american landmark. Built in the 1920's I always thought it was such an important structure because of the power it generates. No... the 720ft high dam only produces enough power for a million homes. I know a million is a million but still -- you would think it would do all of las vegas and half of southern California... The real reason for the dam was always and remains today-- control the flow of the colorado river and eliminate the yearly flooding downstream and two to store water for agriculture irrigation--- electric power is secondary.

Let me assure you .. I was subjected to the 8$ tour of the dam. Its like going to jail.. they lock you in lineups and then feed you dribs and drabs... the best part is walking around which is free and just enjoying the engineering marvel and the beautiful rock formations.

They search the buses that travel across the bridge. you are not allowed to carry over luggage. Security in America... I am sure that it would take an absolutely massive bomb to take out that dam..

Las Vegas was interesting. On Wed night I went to dinner at the Voodoo lounge on top of the Rio. I highly recommend it not just for the food (Stuffed crabs-- fabulous) but you are on the 50th floor and you can walk out and see the city. Decadence money faux art, its breathtaking. As I commented... I imagine an extra terrestrial visiting earth and deciding that las vegas was the capital of earth... New york, Paris, Rio, Bally's Ceasers, the bellagio, the list goes on and on... money, greed and humanity all wrapped up together..

I did spend some time talking to an interesting woman who I invited to visit this blog... I will blog about the las vegas people I met when I blog on the weekend..

yes.. I lost 120$ donated to the hotel via blackjack... it could have been much worse but as I was leaving I had a 16$ slip from the penny slots in my pocket and I used it for a 25 cent slot machine and won 200$

yes I would go back tomorrow

Winter will soon be gone....

2007-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

I know it was cold this week... I know it snowed. I know that planes were delayed for hours and those poor motorists were stuck on that highway for 25 hours in Pennsylvania..

But I like winter. Maybe more than summer... I was out on the ice for a couple of hours today... taking a few shots skating around.. the sun was warm on my face and I did not want winter to leave. It was perfect. maybe 35 degrees F..sunny...cold enough to still skate and warm enough not to need a parka.

I started the week turned off of work..tired of it all working the crisis a day mode.. But not travelling and snow shovelling every night relaxes me. Bundled up with parka and toque and good mitts the air so cold and dense its like you have to work hard to suck it in your lungs, all quiet except for the crunch of snow, it is great thinking time.. Time to relax ..see the evidence of your work and feel the heat that physical exertion brings. I shovelled the driveway.. the sidewalk, the neighbors driveway and the rink. My cheeks were burning by the time I came in and it was like my psyche was repaired.

I have not had the time to ski but that's up for next weekend. My job doesn't stop and on Sunday I go to LA for a couple of days but I will be back and I hope its cold and snowing when that happens. I unabashedly like winter.

Somedays it all Feels like that...

2007-02-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

This is how I feel today. I am working hard. I am getting stuff done but I have this overriding feeling like I am about to be dumped on.

Does this happen to everyone?. Are even the arrogant insecure to a certain extent? I wonder.

The question is how do we enjoy it more. The journey being the best par of the trip not the goal itself.

well... at least the digging is exercise..and I need all of that... I need a little pick me up

Now I am really worried about Global Warming

2007-02-08T05:47:00.000-08:00

Sunday mornings is my official hockeytime. Other forty-ish men and I (although I am almost the oldest) gather, don a black or white jersey and play the game. No.. the carbon content exhaled is not a concern.

Usually the dressing room talk is about sports.. golf.. the leafs..the flames..the oilers.. hockey fights..not this week. This week was all about global warming and the fact we have to do something. Concrete finisher guy recalled that in his youth it was never this warm..that we had more snow... Ontario transplant regaled us with driving on lake Simcoe to go ice fishing 15 years ago, the lawyerman declared that he took the subway to work as they were an environmentally concerned family. Never before have we ever had such an intellectual topic. I questioned the science in my role as shit disturber and was hooted down. My intellectual input that was are one cold week away from stopping to talk about it was soundly thrashed.

Earlier in the week I overheard a casual conversation carried on by our ceo about clean coal and was amazed by how knowledgeable he was on the carbon dioxide emission problem with such a technology.

What do I really think? I think the earth is self modulating. Today the CO2 content in air is 360 ppm ish versus 191 ppm back in the 1800's (how they know this is beyond me) I think that as the CO2 content rises plant growth increases and temperatures warm and plants get larger and the content modulates., This is how the earth has decreased its levels historically from the 470 ppm range or higher. I believe this to be true. I can passionately argue these facts and make believers out of those upon the fence.

On the other hand-- its a big gamble that this works- that everything evens out. hey lets polute its OK. Being thrifty with our assets is a core value and we ought to follow that rule. There is lots of economic growth in going green. There is no reason that we not put our collective intellect to use and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Lets go build some nuclear reactors...

One thing is for sure... if the hockeymen of calgary start talking global warming on superbowl sunday--- its a hot topic.

Tale of two cities

2007-02-03T08:40:00.000-08:00

I was in Indianapolis and Chicago yesterday home of the superbowl combatants.

My day started in Indy where I was having breakfast downtown at one of the hotels and I was talking to the waitress. attractive black 40 ish... Her prediction for the game... Colts will lose.. I said you gotta be kidding me - I think the colts will kill them. She said but -they are the Colts. They always tease your heart and then tear it apart. She said its easier to think they will lose and then if they win it will be even better....

Then I went to the plant... and some of the Chicago middle management types had been around walking around with their Bear shirts on all week. The plant guys had done fun loving pranks on their cars with colt signs it was all fun... The guys in the plants were all for the colts and their great players but still they were not confident. Well if peyton has a good game... but you never know... colts always blow it.... etc etc...

The Chicago fans.. Bravado --giving 9 points.. windy city blowing into town taking the title and partying all night. Confidence in spite of the odds maker predictions. In spite of a quarterback who is a little erratic... completely erratic.. versus the poster boy of Quarterbacks

I spent a couple hours in Chicago on the way home. Same thing confidence in spite of facts.

Tale of two cities -Hosiers versus used car salesmen.

Prediction Colts 38 Bears 14. I am not a hoosier.. nor a used car saleman- I am a math guy.

Portions...

2007-01-22T20:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the luck to travel to Buffalo New York. It is kind of what you expect, industrial , old, a little dated and dirty. The people seem wholesome, hardworking, love the Bills, blue collar, easy to talk too.

A woman picked out that I was a Canadian in one sentence.. how did she do that? I am always conscious about hiding my canadianisms from America.. I ask for the men's room not the washroom. I watch how I say "about". but she caught me. She told me she was a bartender and it was my accent.. Does John Roberts from NBC have a canadian accent.--- I think not....

Back to buffalo.. It is impossible to be on a diet. The portions are huge. I ordered chicken parmigiana and the side pasta was a meal by itself. I ordered a chicken ceaser salad and there was a half a chicken on a mound of lettuce and cheese enough to feed a family of four. The meals were very reasonable and the food was good if not spectacular, but it was the amount that slayed me. Do more sophisticated cities have smaller portions?

Of course I drove by the falls... I haven't been since I was a kid.. but I drove by. there is something that compels you to stand and watch the water go over..

The dream .........

2007-01-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

Le Reve "the Dream" is painted by pablo picasso in 1932. It shows Picasso's mistress, Marie-Therese Walter. Obviously she was tickled pink by the lovely image of herself.

I have to tell you. its hard to understand. the split personality, the angel wing under the right ear. The lack of bossom. and the meaty arms.

Probably what tickles me most is the stark red of the chair, the shade of purple chin and the black "cleaver" that splits the personality. like two women in one...

Why this painting.. Steve Wynn of Las Vegas fame is having a dispute with LLoyds of London his clumsiness. It seems that he was handing the painting, showing it to friends and had an oops and put his elbow though the canvas causing a 2 in flap to be hanging in the wind..

They estimate that the painting was worth 132 million before the clumsiness and after being repaired its only worth 89 million. ah ha... I can see that...ok maybe I would only pay the price Steve paid for it..48 million in 1997. The Ganzes... bought it in 1941 the day they were married and hung it in their living room for 6000$ in 1941.

I like the painting. I like the colors I like the interesting look of the female face. They refer to it as an erotic look and you have to look for that but 132 million??? and if you can't tell it was restored...isn't its value in the view.

so..what do you think of Le reve... is it your dream?

Back to the grind

2007-01-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

Its back to the grind. The vacation is over. It was fabulous. I either skied or played hockey everyday for 10 straight days.

Normally I am excited about work. I dreaded it this time. The year will be tough, I have had this crazy job for the last 2 and half years and I am tired of it.

I even spent the week in NYNY for work this week and that was not enough to energize me. The grind is back. I have tried to roust myself by taking on an ambitious project to renovate my basement in my spare time but it is just a chore and I lack my normal enthusiasm for it.

I did set some new years resolutions. I resolved to exercise at least 5 times a week. I resolved to practice until I can do 25 good pushups without stopping.

The nirvana of making myself feel young again.

I need a new job. I need to start a business. I need one good idea....

I am way way way too much of an optimist to start 2007 like this.......

Its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

2006-12-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

I have taken to humming Christmas carols in public... You would be amazed how many smiles this causes as you walk through the airport. People want to let loose a little and smile. They don't need the shopping - they need the Christmas carols. Yes I know there are non Christians out there but they ought to just go and enjoy it.. like I try to fast at Ramadan.

I was in Chicago this week and I had a headache so I wandered into a Walgreens drug store.. I saw a jazz singer Santa for $9.97... That dude is cool I bought it for my son. he will love it.. Twenty something years old he loves that kind of cheap cheezy stuff. buying good presents brings it on...makes the Christmas spirit boil to the surface... and you start humming...

then I walked out of baggage claim last night and they were stacked up waiting for people off the plane... there were lots of christmas caps on the people waiting and they all smiled when I was singing... its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. It was hug central...

I walked past all that and got in my truck and drove home happy for the world..

yes its all a little cheezy but the ice is frozen and I will put the blades on and happily shoot a few pucks and feel like the season is upon us.

Finally something to be optimistic!!!!!!!

2006-11-25T19:05:00.000-08:00

Fusion... and I am not talking about deodorant or a new scent for men or a new car---I am talking about the real thing.. where atoms combine and generate energy.

Nuclear Fusion is the process powering the Sun and stars. In the core of the Sun, at temperatures of 10-15 million Kelvin, Hydrogen is converted to Helium by fusion - providing enough energy to keep the Sun burning - and to sustain life on Earth.
A vigorous world-wide research program is underway, aimed at harnessing fusion energy to produce electricity on Earth. If successful, this will offer a viable alternative energy supply within the next 30-40 years - with significant environmental, supply and safety advantages over present energy sources .

To harness fusion on Earth, different, more efficient fusion reactions than those at work in the Sun are chosen - those between the two heavy forms of Hydrogen : Deuterium (D) and Tritium (T). All forms of Hydrogen contain one proton and one electron. Protium, the common form of Hydrogen has no neutrons, Deuterium has one neutron, and Tritium has two. If forced together, the Deuterium and Tritium nuclei fuse and then break apart to form a helium nucleus (two protons and two neutrons) and an uncharged neutron. The excess energy from the fusion reaction (released because the products of the reaction are bound together in a more stable way than the reactants) is mostly contained in the free neutron.

I have been interested in fusion and fusion research since I was a university of Toronto student 25 years ago. I used to tease the anti nuke protesters and drive them crazy. They had no answer for the fact if you didn't continue to develop nuclear energy you would never reach the holy grail of fusion power.

Ok..so why am I optimistic? Because..........

The Globe and Mail reports this week that the ITER nuclear fusion project has been approved for $12.8-billion USD. Although the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has been in the planning and development stages for more than ten years, it is well supported by most of the world's leading countries that include the U.S., China, India, Russia, Japan, South Korea and the European Union.

We are talking about investing money to better mankind.. .. The target date for a fusion reactor which generates electricity is 2040. In my lifetime. Imagine the power of the sun here on earth.

Maybe we have just moved on?

2006-11-19T14:20:00.000-08:00

I was in Arizona all week with my colleagues from work mostly all Americans. We had meetings we had dinners.drinks.. .played golf.. (The hockeyman needs to stick to hockey) I was thinking on the plane coming home that the war in Iraq was not mentioned once.

I understand that in America particularly corporate America you do not talk about who you voted for or who you supported. The corporate uniform indicates that you are by default a republican although I am sure many vote democrat, but you do not sit around and talk about who you voted for. So maybe the recent election results quelled the conversation on the war, but it does seem striking that not one mention was made of it.

I wonder what it was like in world war two.. maybe it was like this, not much news until there is a major event. I will ask my parents. I myself find myself less interested in the news. 5 more killed today, car bomb killed 29 Iraqis, 7 policemen found bound and dead ...it seems like this is the news everyday. Maybe the armchair quarterbacks don't have any solutions? I sure don't -- send more troops restore control disarm the populace, or set a timeline for withdrawal to put pressure on the country to restore order. Neither plan strikes you as a winner...

I will ask the folks about WW2 and let you know. I just hope we don't forget about these soldiers who are doing a very very tough job.

The Glory of Life

2006-11-05T14:50:00.000-08:00

At times I think we have to remind ourselves that in the midst of news of war, and poverty and crime that there is a lot of good in the world. Even in our own lives we look around and we see things that cause us pause and make us feel mad or sad, we have to shake ourselves and see the good around us.

I was mad at the world feeling mad about really nothing important, getting pressed for work, minor inconvenient in life.

My walk in the woods cured me. These are the good old days by many many measures. There is always poverty and violence and bad drivers and inconsiderate people, but I have to look past that a little, put a smile back on my face. It was beautiful out there today.. Bright sunshine almost 50 degrees, snow covered areas, peaceful ponds, rushing rivers, and majestic mountains.

I started out mad at myself for various sins and let the outdoor therapy pound away at me until I came to realize that life is grand. not perfect but life is good... I need to smile and hope this infects the world to be more charitable, to be less angry, more secular, and generally happier...

It was fabulous today....

Day of Protest

2006-10-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

Today in Canada we have a day of protest over Canada's role in Afghanistan.

I have no real insights. I have never talked to a member of our troop mission, my sole knowledge of Afghanistan is in reading "the Kite Runner" and one time in Kansas City I had an Afghani taxi driver who was a graduate student in art at KU.

The taxi driver was horrified as to what had happened in his country prior to 9/11 and the years of Taliban rule were horrific. But that is one mans opinion.

I am sure Jack Layton has more insights than I do but I am not a big Jack Layton fan. (for my foreign readers Jack Layton is the leader of the NDP the most socialist of the three major Canadian political parties) Jack has been telling everyone who will listen that we should recall our troops. The ernest guy on TV today talking about the day of protest said that the mission is hurting Afghanistan and we are not reconstructing the nation.

I do think that Steven Harper our prime Minister should explain what exactly our mission there is and why we are doing it.. However, I suspect that we are doing it because as a significant member of the United Nations we are fulfilling a UN mission. We should not abandon this just because the going is a little rough. Those of you who snicker that I would not want my son there are 100% correct. But I would not want him to be a police officer either.

I need more information but I think we need to support the united nations...

and no I do not support the Iraq war. There was no evidence it was a rogue nation. The UN could not agree to take action. I don't know how we the western world can fix Iraq but I do know this... I hate it...

Winter is coming

2006-10-22T18:02:00.000-07:00

Today was a shorts day in Calgary but 45 minues west in the mountains winter is sliding through any opening. The hike was good/great. I saw one person when I was leaving the trailhead and I never saw another person until I returned 3 and half hours later. The snow is in any shaded area and I was only at lower elevations. You can see the snow as heavy on all of the upper mountains.

There was lots of wildlife about, two herds of mountain goats, a big buck on the drive in and a herd of deer on the way back. The deer are camera shy and dive for cover as the hockeyman lines them up. The mountain goats are less shy just turning their butts to the camera. There must be a message there somewhere.

You would think the hike would renew me - put a spring in my step. uh..no.. I struggled on the way back thinking I was an idiot for going that I went too far and that I am out of shape. so it was a self indulgent whine session instead of a joyous meeting of man and nature... now wonder I was treated to goatbutt - the shame of it all...

but you have to love the scenery...

Hockeyman the gardener

2006-10-14T06:13:00.000-07:00

The hockeyman is quite the gardener. Happy with my begonia's au naturel...... This plucky fella is just will not be vanquished.

Just seeing the begonia made me happy. The neighbor who has to look at it out her front door asked me to remove it. I said sure but I just could not bring myself to do it. By now the hard frost in Ontario will have stiffed the little guy but maybe he is hanging in there.

I have been travelling like crazy for work and it really becomes tiresome. Not exercising, eating too much, tired from sleeping in different beds, no time to blog it all weighs on you. It takes that little hint of something special like my begonia to make me feel like I can stop for a few minutes.

I hope that I always look at that picture and wonder at the flower that started as a bit of bird terd or a spec of dust in the wind, and that I never look at that picture and think that I need to clean my eavestroughs...

smile its saturday

Life at JFK

2006-10-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

I know I travel way to much... Sunday I arived at JFK airport on my way to New Jersey for a couple of company meetings. Grate way to spend a sunday---- yes grate.

When you land at JFK which kind of looks like a tired old but very practical airport. You have to take the skytrain to get to the rental cars. I was with a collegue and we rushed on the train almost bumping into two soldiers with automatic weapons. We sat down. The one soldier never took his hand from the business position on the weapon. the other let it sling from his shoulder.
They stood idly a one end of the car as we travelled.

my collegue got off the train and said she was almost too scared to speak because of the men with their weapons.I smiled and laughed a little... my thought was entirely the opposite.... no matter what no one is doing anything the elas bit screwy in this train no matter what..not terrorists..pick pockets... teen agers looking for trouble... no one is messing with those guys. perspective...hard to predict...what makes us feel this way?

Life in LAX

2006-09-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Someday I would like to come to LA and actually take some time and enjoy myself.. have some fun.. go to a few spots.. walk around and see what to do and what to see..

There are two problems...one I never seem to have the time. Yes--- its true I am sitting here in the Air Canada lounge with four hours on my hand but thats not really a couple of days... its just four wasted hours. I neve seem to be able to shelve work and rock and roll for a while. Its not money, I find hotels cheap and life is short and so its not that its just time

The second perplexing roadblock is -what to do. The last thing I want to do is visit the tourist sites like I am a senior on a bus tour. I want to go to bars..see interesting people.. talk to people...go to interesting spots..eat in funky but delicious restuarants. Finding all of these great places takes time. The places change. I can't describe exactly what I am looking for so its hard to ask someone for help. Great experiences just happen, its hard to plan them, but I need a starting point. If you had a night in Los Angeles --- what would you do?

I think it can be summed up... Its LA dude... and I am in LAX for the next 4 hours-- story of my life... near the action but stuck on the edges

Lonely Saturday is just fine

2006-09-23T21:38:00.000-07:00

Some days its ok to be alone. I was away all week for work and I came back to Calgary dead to the world. So Saturday feeling like a slug I dragged myself to my bicycle and rode to the Bow river valley.

We are blessed with a huge bike path system all through the feeder creeks and the rivers. It was cool today so the trails were empty.

I love that.. I ride alone..I enjoy the scenery, the chance to "free think", and the freedom of it all.

I think some days I don't think enough. Why am I against the war in Iraq but in favour of the war in Afghanistan. Am I being spun. The mountains really look snowy in the distance. I should set a goal for the number of times I ski this season, will the Toronto Maple leafs win the cup this year, I wonder what possessed that man to stab the infant in the head on the freeway in Louisiana...can I quit my job and start a business. ..

Yes I know that nothing was accomplished other than arriving back two hours later happily tired.

I think people denigrate doing things alone. I think it stops us from doing things. Culturally we do not get out and do things alone because of the stigma of "lonely and pathetic"

Of course it would have been more fun to have a sweetheart ride with me with a picnic lunch on the carrier with a cool bottle of white wine and a blanket for making love in the tall grass, but that Norman Rockwell painting is not the only picture in the gallery. If we wait for the perfect picture maybe we miss the art itself.

My lonely Saturday was just fine...

Beautiful Picture -- Coulor, Art, Simpler Times "tahiti"

2006-09-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

painted by paul Gaugiun , one of the leading French painters of the Post impressionist period, whose development of a conceptual method of representation was a decisive step for 20th-century art. From 1891 he lived and worked in Tahiti and elsewhere in the South Pacific. where obviously this painting titles "Tahiti" was created. Although his main achievements were to lie elsewhere, Gauguin was, to use a fanciful metaphor, nursed in the bosom of Impressionism. (yes sports fans someone wrote that "nursed at the bosom") His attitudes to art were deeply influenced by his experience of its first exhibition, and he himself participated in those of 1880, 1881 and 1882. The son of a French journalist and a Peruvian Creole, whose mother had been a writer and a follower of Saint-Simon, he was brought up in Lima, joined the merchant navy in 1865, and in 1872 began a successful career as a stockbroker in Paris.
In 1874 he saw the first Impressionist exhibition, which completely entranced him and confirmed his desire to become a painter. He spent some 17,000 francs on works by Manet, Monet, Sisley, Pissarro, Renoir and Guillaumin. In 1883-84 the bank that employed him got into difficulties and Gauguin was able to paint every day. He settled for a while in Rouen, partly because Paris was too expensive for a man with five children, partly because he thought it would be full of wealthy patrons who might buy his works. Rouen proved a disappointment, and he joined his wife Mette and children, who had gone back to Denmark, where she had been born. His experience of Denmark was not a happy one and, having returned to Paris, he went to paint in Pont-Aven, a well-known resort for artists. Eventually he arrived in Tahiti...

The painting itself is a beauty of colour and impact. The forbidden Fruit. the drawing of your eyes to the fruit itself. A masterful painting.

Hockey Morning In Canada

2006-09-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

Hockey resurrects the spirit, the sweat washes away the tarnish and the cool air sharpens the senses.

Yes it was hockey morning in Canada. Some attend church Sunday mornings but I find my spirituality on the ice.

No I am not a hockey god or star of the game but I always want to be. I always want to be better even though I know that the downside is a more compelling argument.

When you are done and like today my shirt is soaked through and I can feel my heart still beating a mile a minute it I feel like I am on top of the world.. even though to be fair my play today was not only average but at a couple of juntures downright sloppy. I not only did not score but I cannot think of one play that was stellar and yet I feel fab.

Today was probably the last time this summer I will arrive at the rink in my shorts and sandals. Snow is a possibility for next weekend. Its funny, lots of guys say that they enjoy hockey more in the summer because they come to the rink in shorts. The only good thing about snow next weekend is that we are only 90 days from pond hockey..

yes.. the hockeyman loves hockey- go figure

Weighty problems........

2006-09-07T20:23:00.000-07:00

I haven't exercised in three days. Why has this happened? I have kind of given up going to the gym. I will walk or ride my bike or play basketball in the driveway but I have to do something.

I know I am a much better person if I have sweated today. I know i feel better. Two days and I feel fluffy..

As regular readers have read my blog and know that I am fat and Forty seven so fluffy is kind of like "regular readers" only a shade of the truth.

I could rail against work and how I had no time the last two days but this as we all know is just whining-- its not reality.. I could be walking right now.. or jogging...I just don't have that exercise fever. its like procrastinating on taking medicine that you know will help you in spite of moaning and complaining of how it hurts. I need someone to call me for a game of tennis... or a bike ride..or a game of football...I need that little kickstart. Yes..I would play badminton... anything..

tomorrow is a crazy day at work but even on crazy days when I have the fever I take my lunch break and go to Stanley park and walk for a half an hour... when I am feeling my oats I run up the river bank to the top to show that I am still 15 years old.. I need to quit talking about it and rally what semblance I have of energy and attack something..

Body and soul..I need it...

This one is going up in my office...

2006-09-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

On the right is Nahini ridge which was the hike of a couple of weeks ago and the valley is Nahini creek which is next up......

Nothing else to say...amidst the the wild and crazy times - walking in these woods lets me think...

America

2006-09-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

I went to middle America this week... Chicago, Iowa, and Kansas City. You can still pay 65$ for a decent hotel in Des Moines. KC barbecue is a fabulous lunch but how do I eat that much every day... Those who read this already know I love Chicago.

The only bad part of my trip was on plane from Toronto to Chicago. I sat with a guy who obviously had a management job with a steel company.. Well dressed working on his laptop, blackberry toting 40ish management guy.

We started talking about the economy and the strength of it I made the point that I thought Alan Greenspan (former federal reserve chairman) was the most important american of the last 15 years. I just think that he managed to keep the world out of a deep recession and keep real wages rising.

The guy agreed with me that Greenspan had done a good job but then he launched into how great a job George Bush had done by cutting taxes. That cutting taxes was leading to prosperity. I don't understand that. He said that the deficit was manageable.. I said but look how much money you would have to make people's lives better if there was no war in Iraq.
This he did not like. He said that its a lot better to have the war over there than to have it over here.

he didn't like it when I asked him if he thought that the war was creating a whole generation of new terrorists like the soviet afghan war had created the last generation....

nope he didn't think so... "we " are showing them... nope..he did not beleive that there were no ties between Al Queda and Iraq.

I firmly believe these things... I think the war in terror in Iraq will create an exponential number of terrorists.... If I blamed america for the death of my parents and I am 16 --I would be a terrorist. I think that these kind of wars create arms in the wrong places.

I think that taking the war to Afghanistan was absolutely correct... you can't have camps to train people to come and attack us and get away with it.. you can' harbor a man who publicly claims to have sponsored a campaign of terror. But the war in Iraq? Nope I think George's administrator was still harboured emotions from Desert storm and lived the dream to the cost of many lives and billions of dollars.

The point is that there are many different view points. I am not sure how we get that way. Do we read different material... are our neighbors different? am I just a Canadian pacifist clouded by Canadian Media... .. I left thinking that the guy was just along for the ride and not using his mind to help the world-- but this is just the man in me talking...wanting to best him , or slash him..

This is the world.. many views, not enough judges to make decisions on what in really right, let alone what historically was right

Hike heaven

2006-08-20T16:05:00.000-07:00

Todays hike was a test hike. About 5 miles all in up a hill to a lookout and then back around. I did the same one last year and felt completely bagged by the end of it. Not today!!!

I started my day with my Sunday morning hockey and yes the hockeyman bagged a couple of goals.

So this afternoon I decided I needed a test hike to see how I am feeling.. Better not perfect. The Weather was a beautiful 78 sunny a light breeze. My shirt was soaked through and I did stop a couple of times to sip water but truly I did the hike without a care in the world while last year I wondered if I would be able to make it back.. Progress..

There is something contemplative about wandering through the forest. You can see the peak in the distance and it looks so far away and unreachable and yet slowly but surely you arrive. I love that... I went alone today not because I was miserable but because I did not want to miss out on life...

Peace bridge......

2006-08-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

started my week getting on the red eye destined for Toronto... 10 am meeting in Buffalo New York and I am reluctant to forfeit my weekend for sleep and peace.

The day starts at 12 30 am in the security line up in Calgary where I forfeited I can of shaving cream, one tube of toothpaste, one tube of hair gel and four deodorant bars.. I have mortal fear of body odor and so I stash then in my briefcase, my bag and obviously "I was carrying"

I had assumed that on the other side of security you could still buy a bottle of diet coke... nope... nada... even at the Air Canada lounge they are paying a woman to stand there and pour the sodas into your glass from a diet coke can...

I rent the car drive to buffalo and get ready for the border.. usually this is easy...today I am sure the ernest young American customs officer put extra tacks in his shoes so he could be more miserable all day.. Of course I was driving a rental car that says Avis... "who owns the car...Avis.. is it a rental yes..is this your car...? " I purposely show him my drivers license and birth certificate showing me to be a home grown Canadian boy and not have him rifle through my passport and see the brazillian (no jokes) and the mexican adventures.

Eventually he lets me go and gets the full grimace on for the next visitor...
on the return trip to Canada..I got the college student with the summer job and the winsome smile.... breezy baby... welcome back to Canada..big smile ..making me wish I was 22 again... ( yes I know at 22 I would have not had the guts to ask her out and ...really... she probably would have said... 'are you kidding?" ) but alas...

worked all week in the area... got home this morning at 130 am....this is corporate travel...
at security in Toronto they failed to find my last deodorant stick... got bumped up to snobby class....woman my age beside me had no interest in talking...

a wasted week... I need something fun

Friday Afternoon-Where has the Ritual Gone?

2006-08-11T20:31:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in my office --happy its Friday afternoon. Happy --but there is no one to go have a drink with and its a perfect day for it.. Its August,the work is done, no one is chewing on me ---perfect for that patio moment when stories are told, the worlds problems get raised and life is lived.

How many fridays do we all miss. Next Friday I will be on a plane coming back from somewhere, stuffed in the seat s, crowded as friday planes always are, no life to be lived, just life to be existed. Shouldn't we revitalize the Friday afternoon "lets go for a drink". Shouldn't someone be calling me say hey Hockeyman ...we are all at Shanks we will save you a seat. or hey Hockeyman we need wine -meet me at the Drink... nada... too old, too work driven... too many people rushing around trying to get stuff done. Not enough sitting around feeling like these are great days...

so that's my day... I wish I was at a patio but instead I will probably go home and do yard work. We need to revitalize the Friday afterwork ritual. Mandatory for August at least.

Peaceful...

2006-08-09T06:59:00.000-07:00

There is way too much yelling , political infighting bad feelings and meanness in the world. I was feeling it too..swept up in who is right or wrong. that bad bad word hypocrite, commenting on what fair or not fair...
Here is the thing . I wrapped up all of this angst and simmering anger I took it with me on my weekend hike up the Elbow river. I like to go by myself as all miserable people should. Usually I like to hike up a semi mountain, get really tired, feel incredibly old and leave exhilarated at having tamed the beast. This was not to be. It was much farther than I thought to the side trail up the ridge and by then it was too late so the hike was incredible tame. This irked my already foul mood...

On the way back was a place to ford the river. I took my shoes off and started to go across the river... the water was cold and the thought of dumping my camera and my blackberry made me chicken out and go back.. ---might as well be dead

I walked on feeling old but not exhilarated....beating myself up for not crossing the stupid river leaving myself stuck in the same old same old trail. about 100 yards was another ford and another trail this time I did not hesitate... I grabbed a stick for balance kept my shoes on and strode across. It came to mid thigh and was cold but easily forded..

the trail on the other side was deserted -no sound but the river, no one to be found. one hour of no people or no people sounds . Somewhere in all of this my anger went away the problems of my little world evaporated and my exhilaration with life returned. The hike costs nothing but gas to get there but it was therapeutic worth thousands...

You have to wonder how all of this works.. how complicated yet simple our minds can be...

Cafe Terrace on Place Du Forum Arles at night

2006-07-30T19:16:00.000-07:00

Ok back to art. The world is too depressing sometimes. Ah yes the Cafe Terrace on Place Du Forum Arles at night painted by Vincent Van Gogh.

Vince the crazy artist is one of the most famous painters in the world. But lets look at the "Cafe". I have read the reviewers who comment on the unique quick brush strokes, how he inspired impressionist painters.

He was a wild and really crazy guy, cutting off a bit of his ear after being upset with another artist Paul Gauguin. You would think that when he got pissed off he would have cut off Gauguin's ear. Eventually he committed suicide by shooting himself.

He was a religion teacher, prostitute consort, evangelist, as well as an artist.

Lets consider the art. Its good. The sidewalk is spectacular. The colours are just right. The people are ok. But the building is out of proportion it looks like it was stretched. Is it really a masterpiece- or is it a marketing job.

Vince averaged a painting every three days and created over 900. Sold one... Vince's widowed sister in law who got the paintings was a promotional genius... She talked about the legends, that he cut of his ear when really he sliced a little off the lobe. That he killed himself because the world would not recognize his genius when really he was just a nutcase and committed suicide. Today Vincent Van Gogh is a Dutch master. Significantly more than what he was when he was alive.

Nice painting...artist overrated - I think so... What do you think?

Cheering for Israel

2006-07-24T17:55:00.000-07:00

It all seems so easy. Israel gives up land for peace. They take their citizens from the disputed towns by force and make them move so that a peace can be made with Palestine and Lebanon.
But there is no peace and and violence continues. So what choice do they have? "they" asked for it now...stealing two soldiers.

It is easy. We are predisposed to cheering for Israel as they have always been the underdog. A nation in the middle of enemies . We in the west have always been more comfortable with Isaac than with Ishmael. Hezbollah sounds like an evil group.

But its not that easy is it? In the first few days of bombing a Canadian family of 6 was killed by and Israeli bomb that flattened the building they were in. Yes..it is true they were visiting relatives probably Hezbollah sympathizers. maybe.. I saw the essence of their affection and she looked like a very ancient grandmother overcome with grief .

There were over 11000 Canadians visiting relatives in the country albeit many with dual nationalities. All of the Lebanese people I know in Canada do not have an angry bone in their body. Arab or Christian they seem to be regular people with a strong sense of family, work ethic and moral standards. I would imagine that most of the people who have suffered in either Israel or Lebanon have little to do with the political or terrorist process.

It makes me feel a little guilty being so remote from the evil things in the world. Where the only real concern is the kids who have the wild party next door or the rattle in the wheel bearing on my truck.

The average person pays the price for poverty, violence, and political opportunism and it seems like it has always been so. They lose their power or their water or their loved ones or they can't go to work.

The answers are simple... eliminate poverty, have basic rule of law, have strong backlash against violence or carrying weapons, have a strong middle class, have basic fairness in government, have a strong education system

Its not easy or right or simple but it is disheartening. Kindness is our only hope.

Rio De Janeiro Brazil

2006-07-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yes the Hockeyman spent the last week in Brazil. I know you gasp and say"But..There's no hockey in Brazil" Au Contraire Mes amis.. I was in city called Sertzinthino and they are very proud of their roller hockey team. A couple of the guys from there play and told me next time we could get a game... I think from what I could make out its like classic roller skates not the more modern inline skates...

Brazil...what a place. ..... Beautiful beaches beautiful people.

The people there are incredibly kind, polite inherently good people. I went to several plants with some of the management and what struck me as most heartening was the smiles that came on the workers faces as the managers came into their area and said hello to them. The Brazilian handshake among men is a two handed affair. You shake with one hand and the other you pat the other person on the back or the side.. you do not power shake ...you don't look the opposite straight in the eye, you smile... a heartfelt smile. Imagine... just crazy eh? It is weird after the north american experience to see the men kissing the women in the office. Its a two cheek affair but not a peck on the cheek.. you can hear real suction...

At one point we were headed to the flea market near the hotel and Eduardo our Brazilian friend told us that we have to bargain.... so I go to buy a t shirt... I try to bargain.... I tell them I am walking away... Eduardo says... come on 20 Reas is a good price these are poor people.... so I never bargained after that...

The next most interesting fact is how active they are as a nation. Even in the taxi from the airport in Rio on a Tuesday morning every playground was filled , then there were walkers and joggers and bike riders everywhere... beach volley ball and soccer on the beach are mainstays They are very very active as a nation

its just incredibly sad that security is such an issue... you need to watch everywhere...all of the office buildings have extensive security procedures.. I had my picture taken and recoded in four different offices. Even in a simpler quieter city like Araraquara (500K from Rio) all of the houses have big walls and spikes and barbed wire to deter bandits. So few middle class people live in houses- you have to live in an apartment for protection. I did go for a run on the beach at Copacabana at 6 am and I did walk down the strip at night.... but I sat with a guy from Edmonton and the same night three in his group had been held up at knifepoint on the same beach... Graffiti everywhere... I must have passed 6 police blitz locations at the side of the road on Friday.... each manned by men with automatic rifles.

I would love to go back...to know more Portuguese and see more of the countryside - because the people are really really genuinely nice people, but Brazil is held back because security is such an issue....
.

The Mountain...

2006-06-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

See the mountain in the middle ... this is my first mountain climb Ha Ling peak.. 6200 ft.... I climbed it looking for something... the adrenaline of accomplishment perhaps..maybe its because I lack material for this blog... but I went looking for something...I am not much of a hiker but I love the outdoors and I wanted something above the treeline where you could really stand on the summit.

yes I found it.. I found I was fat forty seven and out of shape... it took me 2.5 hours... the girl I met at the top who was a cross country skier in training was up in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Only the fact that I told people I was climbing today spurred me to finish.. I thought of all types of excuses but in the end I dogged it right to the top.

I found that no matter what anyone tells you the math still works... it looks high... and they say it takes less than 2 hours... and its easy... hmmm one of those variables intuitively must be wrong. I looked again on the way down...there is only one 15 ft stretch that is not an upward incline... its steep...

and yes something lives up there with seeming no foliage... this little chipmunk lives right at the peak... probably picking up crumbs hoping he doesn't get trapped and sold into slavery in Albania.

when you see your truck in the distance and it takes on this mythical bath of warmth..you know you have had a rough day...

The weird thing is that now... after a coffee from Tim Hortons on the way home and two advil and looking at the pictures... maybe it wasn't so bad...

my dad is back in Ontario.... I called him from the peak... the only place on the trail you get a cell signal...

Picasso... Pisani...

2006-06-14T21:02:00.000-07:00

I know I have been gone for a month. Once in a while you just have to retreat a little to get ready for the road ahead... I have been all over. St. Louis, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Kansas City. Every city trying to find the hockey playoffs on TV... There is something very deflating sitting with a bunch of Americans at the ESPN zone in Chicago cheering for the Edmonton Oilers and watch them blow a 3-0 lead to lose 5-4.

The hockey playoffs energize me... life vicariously through watching sport. But it gets me going.. I ride my bike more. I ride it harder... I look for household chores that are rough physically. I know this sounds weird but I think its the way men think. Once we get in the mood to be physical we want it more and more.. I watch a great period of hockey and I want to go out and take my pick and attack my rockpile or get on that bike and ride like a wild man.

Tonight was a wild game... Carolina dominated at times but Edmonton prevailed in overtime. Fernando Pisani broke in and scored a Picasso... complicated but beautiful goal.. Those who know me will know that I am a life long Toronto Maple leaf fan but I went to high school in Edmonton and I can't help but root for the boys..

Fernando Pisani drafted in the 8th round...an Edmonton Boy... three years in the league but already 28 ...which means he was in the minor leagues a long time..the great Canadian story...

There are either one or two playoff games left...Carolina is still up 3 games to two with Game 6 back in Edmonton. I want it to go seven so I will feel better... its strange...

Hiking ..Skiing loving life...

2006-05-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

Weekend number one I went for the river hike. Up the hill around the bend and you end up above the Elbow river. Eventually you finish back at the waters edge before you get in the car and drive back to life... The scenery is fabulous, the air is cool and there are no bugs.

Weekend two I went the the sunshine ski resort in Banff. 50 Miles from the hike there is lots of snow. You pay your 45 dollars and ride up and down the mountain baking in the afternoon sun or chattering down the icy slope in the morning. I love the exhilaration.... conquering the hill..skiing timid for the first hour, then getting the groove going...then scaring myself..then pleasure skiing...then draggin myself up the hill one more time.

Decadence -- how lucky I am to live in such a country. The hike is free, the skiing is 45$ but because I am on the cheap side I always bring my own lunch and snack.. I go by myself and to a certain extent I like it like that. I am not anti social but sometimes I think I just need time to think. I feel incredibly lucky.

I am raring to go now... ready to jump the corporate beast and ride it until tamed. I am off to the US south this week and I will smile all week.

Uniformity

2006-05-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

I traveled through America this week and it would be easy to talk about "the ugly America"

I flew into JFK at 7 pm and I had to drive about 90 minutes out... As is my custom I turned on the radio.. The commentator was talking about the need to build a wall on the two land borders. "it worked in china for centuries, it works in Palestine today" He went on and on that only international pressure kept it out of Jerusalem and this is where most infiltrate. It made me mad..I think almost all 9/11 terrorists came through Saudi Arabia... so I changed the station..

The next station a caller was talking about how America missed the biggest opportunity ever on illegal aliens- that it should have mobilized the military and captured the protestors on the day of protesting the new proposed legislation (last Monday), then shipped them all home... . The commentator added with glee that that would get rid a liberals at the same time...

just stupid stuff... like the biggest problem America had was the leakage of illegals from Mexico..

I relayed my radio experiences to a few Americans and without exception they were not right wing slay them all people --they were more balanced approach, that illegal aliens is something easy to get excited about but that this is not the crucial problem in America. One said that we should be proud that people still think America is such a wonderful place that they endure to get there. These were all groups from those in the corporate world... to a beautiful black woman I talked to in the hotel lounge

Intuitively we know that there are all kinds of people in America but sometimes we slip into making ourselves believe that there is a uniformity that doesn't exist... "you Canadians are so nice" "its so beautiful up there" well..three are nice Canadians and it has beautiful spots but being Canadian does not automatically make it so..

when I switched the radio stations and got more fear my first thought is that America is going nazi but its not... America is made of all kinds of people and all kinds of idea's. There are kind ones and beautiful ones and hateful ones and ones who like dogs and ones who hate dogs..

We have to catch ourselves...

The biggest problem in America is not the influx of illegal Mexican aliens --- but it might be that there is very very little hockey on TV down there even in the playoffs... A little more hockey would go a long way...

Picasso's Blue Noode

2006-04-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

I know how to spell N-ude but I don't want to get blog searched on it...

Quite a painting....

Pablo Picasso Painted “The Blue Noode” in 1902 in Barcelona. He was already established as a talent and an early prodigy. The Blue noode is part of his blue period.

Hans Jaffe in “Picasso” describes it this way. At the end of 1901, when Picasso returned to Barcelona, a deep and significant change took place in his painting. This change strikes us first of all in his choice of colors: the variable range of brilliant tones yields to a single dark and oppressive blue. But this transformation in his painting - the first in a long series - was more than a mere change in color, more than the adoption of a new tone. It was above all the result of a new attitude toward people. Instead of observing them ruthlessly and satirically, he now treated his models with sympathy, with melancholic tenderness. His subjects changed, too. Instead of painting café scenes, Parisian interiors with women in big hats seated at tables and drinking, he began to represent, to imagine enigmatic, emaciated figures standing rigid and silent against a vague or empty background. In this period he painted beggars, street girls, alcoholics, old and sick people, despairing lovers, and mothers and children all fitting the despondent mood of the period

This all fits the painting… vulnerable, blue, certainly not refined and elegant. Ask yourself do you see this as sexual or do you feel like this is a person to shelter and care for? I think it’s the latter. Maybe that’s the change for Picasso..

A lesser talent would have been satisfied with what had been achieved so far and would have continued turning out art that spelled success with the public. Picasso went a little more personal, less arrogant … he went blue….

The painting is interesting... the woman the colours, the style... I like it.... How about you?

Prairies....

2006-04-20T20:30:00.000-07:00

This week I went for a road trip to Southern Saskatchewan. The flat bread basket of Canada. It makes you feel that if you were just a foot taller or you stood on the bumper of the car you could see from Regina to Estevan 130 miles away.

Its empty, bereft of people. Towns are miles apart and you see few people. I passed four cars going from Regina to Stoddard (90 miles) and no one passed me. To be fair it was not a bright sunny day, there were periods of light snow and rain and it was no day for a farmer to be on his field. I liked it. the emptiness and the geometry.

I was driving a Hyundai Sonata and it will go at least 115 miles per hour. I passed a guy and wondered (like when I was 17) I wonder how fast it will go... I probably haven't done that since I was 17 but it will go at least 115. The road is flat but not smooth and to be fair its not the same exhilarating feeling as when you have your mom's Pontiac astre floored and you are praying for a wind and a hill to get you to 110 mph. But still the "yeah baby" overrides the fear and disgust of the 1000$ plus fine it would be if our beloved mounties were out and about.

The town of Olathe is on the route and it has seen better days. To be fair these were interesting buildings and there were newer ones but clearly the glory days of

Olathe and this once fine building are just a memory. The farm land itself looks relatively rich and well tilled but the economics have changed and the populace now buys emergency milk and smokes in town and the rest at the Costco, Walmart, Home depot triumvirate in Regina 35 miles away.

I am not pastoral minded or wishing for the good old days on the farm. I am a city boy through and through, allergic to hay and scared of places without cable internet access and TSN. I did wonder what a quarter section would go for and did the woeful farmers lament signal a time to buy land for a long term investment. I wondered about that. I would like that... "yeah I bought a couple of quarters on spec in southern sask last year.... " I would like to own land no matter how unfarmerly I am.

Driving like that gets you thinking... makes you relax... you turn the radio on and they announce that the play by play of the junior hockey playoff game between the Calgary Hitmen and the Moose Jaw Warriors will start in an hour... in the meantime sportsfans we have our bible inspirational hour.

Next week it will be back to the corporate wars and the open empty prairies forgotten...

Happy Easter

2006-04-16T08:53:00.000-07:00

Ah the Mysterious mountain...How was it formed?..how long ago?..shrouded in clouds- what secrets does it hold... ? Prabably none-- it is part of a big ski resort in Banff but it makes you wonder

I went skiing yesterday. Today my legs hurt, its two advil to move and my face is burning. This is the evidence of a great ski day. It snowed lightly all day. At the top you could barely see and the snow was whipped against your face. The "why am I here" type stinging... then as you descended the wind slowed and the light snow turned to pleasure as you float over it. You could ski anything...black, double black..the snow made it easy... I was temepted to go to the delerium dive...way way beyond my ability but you couldn't see at all up there and if I am going to risk life and limb I want pictures to remember it by... to say nothing of skiing off a cliff kind of thing.

Skiing to me is the best when you are on the edge... scared..but exilerated ...tired yet happy. I fell three times and got face whipped by a tree but they were just part of the fun...

I had been tempted to write about Easter and faith today but maybe later...now I am still basking in the glory of God and the ski hill

A Book Meme

2006-04-10T17:57:00.000-07:00

I was reading Travellor One's blog today and she had a book Meme. I always wonder what other people read. I didn't do too badly but I stay away from the fantastic or supernatural so that let me out of a few....

I am currently reading Swallowing Stones by Lisa St. Aubin de Teran... (with a name like that how could it be bad?) it is a fictionalized account of Oswaldo Barreto Miliani who was an advisor to Castro, Allende, and other revolutions...I will tell you what I think when I am done...

Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around (or strike through) the ones you've never even heard of.

The Meme......

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown --I think I Rosemarie and I are the last to read this book…
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger-- Classic thanks to ..Mark David Chapman
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
(The Time Traveler's Wife) - Audrey Niffenegger
(His Dark Materials) - Philip Pullman
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
Life of Pi - Yann Martel--- Fantastic…really a wonderful book
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell -- Social Studies standard fare
Catch -22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon----I love this book
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban- J. K. Rowling
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez ---The most complicated book in the entire known universe.
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden.
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini A boy book… all of our fears… Most personally enjoyable book on the page
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold UGH….
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
(The Secret History) - Donna Tartt
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides Now here is book that is interesting
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Atonement - Ian McEwan = I hate this guy..I just read Amsterdamn which won the 98 booker… I would run over him with my car if he was in my driveway
(The Shadow Of The Wind) - Carlos Ruiz Zafon =
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway.
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood. You don’t say hey…. I’ll read Margaret Atwood…you have to go into concentration training exercises for a couple of weeks…
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

so tell me....whats your favorite book on the list

Spring is Here

2006-04-08T16:25:00.000-07:00

Spring is here. Its time to shake off the winter , get over hockey and get out and about.

Yes Blog fans I went to try a little tennis today. Of course I had no one to play with but I did go play against that big wood wall and I whipped it...
I hit for about 45 minutes and it felt great.

The funny thing about exercise is that when you are sitting at home... watching tv or goofing off.. you think..naw..I'll stay here and then when you actually will yourself out and about and it invigorates you and you want more.. feed me.. Come on you passing car..see me playing alone jump out and offer to play. Never happens but still after 45 minutes two things happen. I decide I am completely out of shape and second I think wow this was great --I have to do this more because it was great.

I make resolutions every year to exercise daily but it never works out. I need to get out more. I know I do. Our brains are funny things- sometimes you can actually believe that there are two tiny people in there- one saying..Hockeyman..stay here ----you are warm and content if you have to get up...get a cookie... ---- the other saying come on...get out...lets get a game... you need it you fat boy...come on...

its complicated but I need the energetic one to win... ... Poor Andre..one says play and one says eat...

Corporate life

2006-04-07T01:43:00.000-07:00

I have lived my whole life to live in the corporate world. Sorted out how to behave, how to dress(although clearly I still need work) , how to talk to the big boys and how to survive for 20 plus years..

But some things shake you. They punted one of the guys I work with today after 25 years with the company. I thought he was the MVP of our group, knew his stuff, helpful, tough when he needed to be, and smart. The word is he was not liked at the very senior part of the company. What the heck does that mean? I work with him all the time. What did they see that I didn't?

I think their impressions are wrong but no one ever gets to court to really prove their point. Yes he got a good settlement and he is relatively Ok with it but why him? Am I next? I am reminded of that poem that says when they came for me there was no one left to speak up for me.

People are loyal to companies-but companies by their very nature cannot be loyal to people

It just makes me mad.... I need to either go play some hockey or find an interesting painting...

Decadence

2006-04-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

I was in Chicago this week. I love Chicago. For those readers who have not been there --it is not at all like ( at least we Canadians) perceive it as. I am sure there are bad parts, rugged parts like all large cities but downtown is fabulous. The architecture is striking. It seems that most building from early in the century were built to be striking. The restaurants, the buzz..the people...it is a destination.

In the early 1800's Chicago was smaller than St. Louis and it looked like St.. Louis would be the gateway to the west. Today downtown St. Louis is no comparison. Lots of plywood boarding up places, the striking architecture present but not nearly as plentiful. Chicago brought the worlds fair in 1933 to celebrate 100 years as a city. The remnants are striking today. http://www.chicagohs.org/history/expo/finearts.html

But it was not architecture and fine dining that struck me this trip- it was this personal dilema that asks if our society is too decadent.

The picture above is a five bedroom brownstone just north of downtown. Its 106 years old. On the market for 4.8 million. On the realtor listing it says that the payments would be 24000$ a month. In this area there are 38 properties on the market for between 4 and 5 million US$.

Who has this money? Across from here there are 1 bedroom condos that sell for 1 million. I asked the doorman ----who pays a million for a one bedroom. He said most are for downtown business people who have their real place in the suburbs but want a downtown place if they have to work late or the weathers bad.

Do the rich make too much? is it time for there to be more sharing? Those who know me would probably put we as a conservative-- but enough is enough. I believe that hard work and skill should be rewarded but enough is enough. We need more sharing.

I believe that those who take risks create work for others should be richly rewarded, but I think it is a fine line that balances hope and opportunity for poorer people and an overabundance of rewards for the rich.

Maybe we should fight the decadence and send a few bucks to people like this http://www.vivid.ro/index.php/issue/78/page/diary ( thanks Traveller one...)

Art? Art Who?

2006-03-27T19:40:00.000-08:00

Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dali in 1937

Its a famous work by Salvador Dali -an artist of a time when Spain was gripped in the romatacism of fascism and revolution.

I know the faithful readers out there are stepping back and thinking Magnificent, spectacular-- it talks to me!!!!, I want it...

Others are thinking -what the hell is it? I agree -- I was intrigued. Is this really a classic.. or some opium haze induced mishmash of colours - the seinfeld painting of the thirties -- about nothing.

Au contraire mes amis... this is an art style called "Paranoiac-Critical Method" created by Dali in 1929. that clears it up...

"It was in 1929 that Salvador Dali brought his attention to bear on the internal mechanism of paranoiac phenomena and envisaged the possibility of an experimental method based on the sudden power of the systematic associations proper to paranoia; this method afterwards became the delirio-critical synthesis which bears the name "paranoiac-critical activity." Paranoia: delirium of interpretive association bearing a systematic structure. Paranoiac-critical activity: spontaneous method of irrational knowledge based on the interpretive critical association of delirious phenomena.
The primary function of the paranoiac-critical method is to produce images of a startling and authentically unknown nature. The paranoiac mind perceives alternate meanings of individual signs, and interpretations displace one another almost instantaneously. Whether these new relationships are created or merely noticed by the paranoiac is irrelevant. As Dali explained, "It is enough that the delirium of interpretation should have linked together the implications of the images of the different pictures covering a wall for the real existence of this link to be no longer deniable."

Basically the painting is a collection of signs that is designed to stimulate our psyche and and cause our minds to think...

But delirium is difficult for me to grasp. Maybe I am too unschooled or the picture is not detailed enough or I am too unclever to decode it but it looks like nothing to me.. a collage of colours... a C in art at best...

Salvador Dali...I will stick to hockey...

WIMP!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Today I packed up the car...got ready to go skiing... a solitary day on the slopes.. My Saturday!!!!!...

It started snowing as soon as I got 20 minutes outside the city. Near Bragg creek I slid to a stop . Just past Cochrane I skidded a little on the highway. I decided that the winter storm warning for later in the day was upon me. I bailed wimped out.. poofed out ---went home.

Yes Blog readers a sad sad state of affairs-- when I was in my thirties I would have had Meatloaf on in the tape machine and I would have not thought a thing about it until I arrived there. All the way back I beat myself up.

The bad part is that the less you have to live for the more you wimp out. When I was thirty I had two little kids...no money, mortgages etc etc.... now I have a little money, kids are grown or close enough, I have had enough fun to last me.... yet I was a more of a strap me in and let it rip kind of guy fifteen years ago.

I feel like turning around again and baring the weather. Instead I went for an urban hike down the creek. It was nice.. me and the rest of the old geezers in the neighbourhood were out.

Okay I need therapy. I shall beat this back.. I shall not get older... I will go pump a little iron or play a little hockey and take my skirt off. I hate getting old.

Playing it safe at the NCAA

2006-03-19T15:35:00.000-08:00

I know you think that its just hockey. The Hockeyman forever. And yes I did play this morning. I was dismal. I've been as sick as a dog all week and so I was just weak today. Not only did I not score I was never even close. Top that all off we had the shooter tutor at one end which does not make for much of a game. (I will explain later)

And really this is not about sports- its more about the idea of sport. I love basketball. This week started the NCAA men's tournament and I entered the tournament challenge on ESPN to go through a process to pick the tournament winner. The tournament starts with 64 teams and you pick each round. I made two entries... first I picked the teams I thought would win... then I picked one where the favorite would win in each case. so If a number 7 seed played a 10 seed the 7 seed always wins.. On my knowledged based entry I an in the 61 percentile of entries.. and on the pick the favorite I am in the 87th percentile. There are about 4 million entries.

The point of this is that I would have been a lot better off to pick the favorite in any case. But will I do that next year? Never, nada... I will never think that the easy way is the best way. Is this arrogance? ignorance? or the human spirit that wants to play. It s like deciding the other team is better so not playing the game. No matter whether you lose 3 of 4...it just makes that 1 of 4 much more sweeter.

I think its the human spirit. I want to compete. I know I will probably lose but I don't want to not play. Maybe its the romantic nature of being the underdog. Taking the favorites no matter how calculating, or easy - is just not rewarding.

Maybe this is the innate human characteristic that causes people to be warriors. I want to win. I want to mix it up... The war gene link- makes it good to have sports. The losers who rank in the 61st percentile live to play again next year. Maybe if Khaddahar had a team in the tournament the local Inman would have a little less power. Maybe George should have played a little more hockey or basketball.

I love the NCAA tournament. It is fun. The low ranked teams rise up. You have one game to win..thats all....and then you are on to the next round or out the door.

The shooter tutor is used when one damn goalie sleeps in and does not show up. rather than put some poor sap in net or shoot at an empty net, you hook up this tarp with holes in the corners and right in the middle--- over the goalie net opening. If you shoot through a hole, its counted as a goal. Its made so kids can practice their shooting... "shooter tutor"

Saint Patricks Day

2006-03-17T14:39:00.000-08:00

Ah St. Paddy's day... When we all want to be Irish... and we eat corned beef and cabbage and we drink green beer till we are happy and Irish....

Thats the myth. It just never seems to happen for me. I can't think of one good event that I ever went to or any fun that I have ever had on St. Patricks day. No I am not Irish. But I am Catholic so I could fake it in a heartbeat. Its the national event day driven by the green dye manufacturer association of America. After all why else would anyone wear green? Green food dye, green beer... Green green green

I have gone to Irish pubs on St. Patricks day... You can't move inside them but they never seem that raucous or fun loving. I have tried corned beef and cabbage in Irish pubs and come away thinking good God now I know why they only celebrate once a year.

Maybe Canada is just too reserved for a proper celebration. I yearn for it. I drink..Ok not like I used too...and only socially but I can fake it.... I don't guzzle anymore but hey I would cheer you on if thats what it took to celebrate. When I went to university I tried to never miss a party - but I never remember a good St. Paddy's day one.

Is it just me... In my 46 St. Patrick days have I just dodged the party? Have I been too busy to go to the parade..? feared of wearing green as being too much of a weenie colour? Statistically I have had at least 14 St Patricks days that were on either Friday or Saturday night....

Come on-- is it just me?

Progress....

2006-03-12T20:38:00.000-08:00

I personally am always embarrassed by how little I know of the world. The picture attached is the Potala Palace on Bhudda's mountain in Tibet.

I have lots of education, at least 6 years of university study, read books all of the time and yet I don't think I have ever talked to a Tibetan nor learned of the "renaissance period" of Tibet. Obviously this is an impressive extravagant structure implying a superior level of learning back in the 1600's.

I know so little... About people and places and history...

The reason this picture struck me is that from the picture and the news of Tibet today-- Tibet has probably regressed significantly as a society in the last 300 years. The regression occurred largely at the hands of foreign invaders and subsequent loss of political and economic power. Maybe the same things are happening today in Afghanistan or Africa or America. I wonder how wonderful the world would be if there were not these invasion type destruction of intellect and progress.

Would cancer be cured? Would there be no starvation in Africa?

background
The Potala Palace, perched high above Lhasa on the Marpori (red mountain), is a place of spiritual pilgrimage and a mammoth tribute to Tibetan architectural skills. The name Potala derives from the Sanskrit 'Bodala' meaning Buddha's Mountain.
In the 7th century King Songtsen Gampo first built a small meditation pavilion on this site which was followed later by a palace. During the 9th century these buildings were destroyed after lightning set them on fire. On the orders of the 5th Dalai Lama construction was started in 1645, but he died before the Red Palace was started. However, before dying he asked his Prime Minister (Regent) to conceal his death lest construction work be discontinued. The Prime Minister found a monk who resembled the deceased and thus was able to conceal the death and all 13 storeys were completed. From the time of the 5th Dalai Lama onwards, the Potala became the official winter residence of the successive Dalai Lamas.

Perfect Friday .........

2006-03-10T23:57:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, like today, I like to ski alone...To just chat with the odd person on the lift and that enjoy the solitude. Maybe there is an element of factual appreciation as really I had no one to ski with but none the less I always look forward to it.. I wonder-would I have enjoyed it more with company?

The air was cold -12 C (11 F) but there was no wind and bright sunshine. Glorious day. You were fine on the lift and the cold air would sting you if I went too fast on the way down.

The stinging in the face is all part of the appeal. Three things draw me too it... First is the danger- its like a drug -I never do really crazy stuff but I never really consider it a good day unless I have been scared or had a big wipeout. Second is the scenery. I would go just for that. The picture is from the top of the mountain looking north east up the Kannanaskis valley... Finally its the physical nature of it. I want my face stung and to be hot after as I feel the sun. I want my legs to burn and start to chatter as I cruise from the top to the bottom without stopping. I love that feeling. I love staggering to the car at the end of the day- my legs spent. I almost never stop once I start. I never go in to get warm or to stop for a coffee or lunch... I just go because I want to feel it.

and yes... The hockeyman finished the day by playing hockey. Needless to say his legs spent once during the day, it was no where near his finest performance.

Glorious glorious Friday.

ok...come ski with me

Nicole and Chloe and Suzanne

2006-03-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

There an amazing number of requests from commentary hungry for a little more art discussion... Here we have Nicole and Chloe painted by Itzhak Tarkay (I wonder if his real name was Sam Miller and he needed a little juice to sell paintings.. ) and yes I lied I had no commentary on my last foray into Art appreciation.

Okay..Here is what strikes me. How they are entwined together. Is that mean to be the bond that women have of the same age and proportion? Are they sisters and normally sit touching one another? Are they holding hands? I love the colours. I love the one in the orange with the low cleavage and low hanging bosom . Two things strike me as out of place... Two refined women with huge -"I will crush you if I have a whim to do so forearms" and second I can't figure out what that black purple cloak type thing is on the right of Chloe. But none the less a beautiful picture..

Here is a little about the artist.

Itzchak Tarkay was born in 1935 in Subotica on the Yugoslav-Hung- arian border. When he was only nine years old, Tarkay was sent to Mathausen concentration camp by the Nazis. After the war, he returned home and developed an interest in art. While still at school in Subotica, he won a prize for excellence in painting.
In 1949 he and his family immigrated to Israel and were sent to a transit camp for new arrivals at Beer Ya'akov. Their next two years were spent in a Kibbutz. In 1951, Tarkay received a scholarship to the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem, where he studied for a year before having to leave due to difficult financial circumstances at home. In order to continue his scholarship, he was allowed to study under the artist Schwartzman until his mobilization to the Israeli army. After returning to the familiar environment of Tel Aviv, Tarkay enrolled in the Avni Institute of Art, which he graduated in 1956. His teachers there were Mokady, Schtreichman, Janco and Stematsky

This second picture is called "Suzzanne" and it reminds me someone... hmmm

My trip to The South

2006-03-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

I was through Georgia and South Carolina this week. and a few things struck me. This is a gorgeous time of the year.. The blossoms are coming out, the humidity is gone, the temperature nudges 70 and just walking around is a sheer joy.

Maybe it was me or maybe it was circumstances but prices seemed lower than much of the US. I took the guys to a family restaurant and the bill for four of us was 27$. I saw gas at least two places for 1.99$/ Gal. I stopped at the Ralph Lauren outlet mall and got work shirts for 35$.

In spite of the bumper sticker attached I think people are less supportive of President Bush than ever. Two guys I talked to said they had voted for George twice but had made a mistake. The war goes badly. The reason for war is unclear and we have quite the mess on our hands ollie. "Huge waste of money."

The land of enormous portions wreaked havoc with my diet. Like always I tried to immerse myself in the land so at lunch I had catfish, okra, blackeyed peas and coleslaw. It reverberates to this day but the catfish was delicious... I smiled when I saw the hostesses name was "cookie..." She had a winsome smile. The lunch crowd looked like the fashion norm for fortiesh working men is to have long stringy hair, a moustache, a black t shirt like extra's in the lynard Skynard videos of bygone eras.

You can tell the economy rocks. Atlanta traffic is fearsome. The quality of person at the hotel desk or the rental car place or the security office is very poor leading one to believe that the better and brighter are fully employed in better jobs. Construction everywhere.

I like trips like that, meeting people, talking about life, hearing the passion they have for Georgia Tech basketball or Steve Spurrier gamecock football. humming showtunes

Ok Enough about Hockey

2006-02-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

Yes... I know there are no faithful blog readers so this really just wasted bytes but I shall persevere. Maybe my blog is too much hockey and not enough about ideas... - so we shall move on to art appreciation. Yes the hockeyman loves art but has no appreciation for it...

however, inorder to satify both sides- the intellectuals who may troll here really looking for ideas and the piggish men who just troll I give you Earth Water.

The Union of Earth and Water.painted by Pieter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) in 1618... which would have made him 41... close enough to the hockeymans 47 .. What strikes me is the definition of beauty then and now.

The guy with the Trident is supposed to be Neptune and the woman holding the horn of plenty is the Cybele the mother of the gods. She is earth and he is water... The woman is beautiful yet has smaller breasts and more middle than current glamour magazines might define it today. Her legs are not thin and spindly. Her feet are - lets face it--- well grounded .. The men are muscular and hairy and would be attractive god like today. The man in the water with the hair would have women and gay men falling all over him.. Even the babies are shirleytemplish classic beauties ..

It seems the public definiton for women has changed but the men are the same. But what man would not find that female form alluring? Isn' that what would really attract men who are in their forties...Makes you wonder.... Beauty is not fair

Swiss Shock!!!!!!!!! Swiss beat Canada 2-0

2006-02-18T16:25:00.000-08:00

I have heard all of the pundits. "Best thing that could happen for Canada", "We always need a wake up call", "This will get us going"

hmmm I wonder if this is a Canadian psyche thing- do other nations feel this way when their team gets beaten by a theoretically weaker team? I know intuitively I feel this way.. no problem- its like getting embarrassed 4-1 by the Swedes in 2002, we will be back.

It is no consolation that both Swiss goals were scored by the pride of Sault Ste. Marie Paul DiPietro.

I think the truth is that Canada failed to skate with the enthusiasm required. We had been playing the control game- and we needed to get the we will outwork them.

Back to my thoughts about good performances and bad. If we could only get an understanding of why this happens maybe civilization would advance at breakneck pace. Is jarome Iginla thinking "why did I play sluggish today?" is enzyme research the answer-- I wonder... I want to have great hockey game tomorrow, Jarome wants to score four against Finland and some scientist wants to do her best thinking on the interaction of various molecules tomorrow and find the cure for alzhiemers.... We all want it... We want our best more often---just how do we get it!!!!

Biorythms

2006-02-16T11:49:00.000-08:00

I wonder about biorythms. As a boy I would always look at mine in the newspaper and it would never seem to quite fit my day so eventually I dismissed it as trash. I don't even know if they still publish them.

But then if there is no such thing as a natural rythym to our psyche -why do I feel so bad today?

There would seem to be no reason for it- work is fine, I feel physically fine, I went out and skated on frozen pond last night, the olympics are uplifting etc etc. Yet I feel like its a bad day- outlook is bleak.

This happens in hockey too. I play every Sunday. Everyonce in a while I have a glorious game where I can do nothing wrong and everything is working like it should. I reanalyze the game..what I ate, how I warmed up, sex the night before or not, routine in the morning the whole thing. One time I had to take the other car in for sevicing so before hockey I drove it over to Canadian Tire and rode my bike back then played hockey. Went crazy scored four goals-- the next four weeks in a row I rode my bike before hockey..nada back to my old self.

Why do we have better days or worse days than our circumstances predict?

More to the point..what will roust me of this crazy funk!!!!

Canada We Love You

2006-02-15T15:32:00.000-08:00

The hockeyman wants to show blog readers taht while hockey is numero uno-- he likes other sports as well....

Yes I want to be an olympian. Live the dream. Dare to dream. Of course I am way too old for everything but curling and since I have never curled in my life (thank God) my chances are not that good.

But I love the olympics. I love the way Canada binds together -men get excited about watching womens hockey, Quebecers cheer for the spruce grove girl and Albertans cheer for the francophone speed skaters.

I was in america the last couple of days and I watched the olympics and I felt sorry for them. They get such stilted coverage. Way too much drama about Michelle Kwan and not enough about the events themselves. Limited coverage of events americans are not favoured to win. In Canada we get it all. We get the CBC trying to be journalists and reporting on the sport, we get many more hours of coverage in the day and then we can watch the american coverage too.

The american media made it seem like Bode Miller had the downhill gold in his hands and let it slip away. But we Canadians know that on any given day (like Ken Read did so many years ago) its more likely that someone will have an amazing run. The coverage is just more balanced in Canada.

Yes I love the womens hockey team, the mens curling team from newfoundland, becky scott and Sarah Renner for winning silver, I love the idea that people achieve their goals.

Now...we need the two hockey golds again!!!!! Go Canada

The Great One

2006-02-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

The hockeyman has to talk about the controversy. For those readers who are not hockeyfans or Canadians- Rick Tocchet the assistant coach of the Phoenix Coyotes is accused of running a major gambling ring. Janet Gretzky wife of the great one is rumoured to have but up to 500K$ in the betting ring.

Two points- first the Great one is the great one and we expect nothing more than for his leadership to bring the hockey gold back to Canada from Turin (Wayne is retired as a player but is executive director of the effort) The hockeyman will still think that he is Great One - great player, great Canadian great person even if its found that he bets.

Second point the beautiful Janet wife of the great one.- Rumoured to have bet 75K on the superbowl last week. I wonder if she is like myself and some of the blog readers who are looking for something but not sure what. She is early forties I think and maybe she just has everything ever dreamed of- trophy husband, trophies, glamour covers, four kids, more money than she will ever need. Maybe there is nothing for her to look forward to ---no mountains to climb no goals to achieve- so she bets to feed the habit. I wonder if she bets to make her day or bets to feel good- the drug of choice for the rich and famous.

There are no perfect people. We all have warts. She probably doesn't want hers in the paper but that happens when you are up on the mountain flashing your riches to the peasants below.

I can never see myself betting 75K$ although I bought some RIM stock last year and its jsut about the same thing only you can live and die with it every day BTW it was up as high as 4 .10 a share US today but settled back for a small gain of 62 cents.

Life gets a little crazy...

2006-02-05T12:49:00.000-08:00

On the plane last week I was completely pissed. Not being a small person and a little claustiphobic I always want an aisle seat. I work hard to make sure I am getting one. In Chicago they changed the airplane and all seats got rearranged. The net result with my luck I was stuck in the middle with a large fellow on the aisle and a woman about my age on the window. . Bored to tears... laptop battery dead., my book (Amsterdam by Ian McEwam) ok but not a page turner. I noticed the woman sitting by the window was so bored she was reading the inflight magazine.

This is incredibly bored.

So I ask her where she is coming from (Charlottle NC) and I find out she is from Nova Scotia and lived not far from where I lived when I lived there. I had just been there two weeks before. I started with all of the goofy things about living in the Maritimes. We were off to the races... I had her laughing so hard I thought were were going to get complaints from neighboring passengers. She was fun fun fun. Her stories of adjusting to Calgary made her a gamer even when she is finding the transition hard. The remaining two hours of the flight flew right on by. Some people you just click with.

When we went to get off the plane I wanted to say hey can we do this again but her situation and mine do not permit this- and so it doesn't happen. I wonder if she felt the same way? Society dictates that if we are not to be lovers then we are not to be friends at least in this kind of setting. You think about this. Friends are so hard to come by. In retrospect I should have given her my blog address and seen what she had to say of the experience.

When I was driving home I thought about human interaction and how we miss out on so much life because of societal norms. There is a fellow blogger whose tag line reads that everyone has a story to tell. They do. When they really tell it, it is fun and alive and it does not care how thick or thin they are or how attractive they are, their story can capture us.

So as I watch the superbowl today by myself I will consider that its because I did not engage enough people in my 40 plus years of life...

Seattle has in the bank since I am cheering for Pittsburgh

The Election in Canada

2006-01-29T21:17:00.000-08:00

Blog readers will know that I am not a big fan of Stephen Harper. I was in Atlantic Canada so I added a picture of his distant cousin Ricky.

lets start with Canada. My view is that these are the good old days that we all yearn for. Our major issues are how to spend the surplus and what to do about same sex marriage. They are not - how to recover a failing economy, real wages declining and how to extricate ourselves from the guerrilla war in Iraq. We have a great country and these are great times. Yes healthcare could be better but all of the people around me who are really sick are getting excellent treatment regardless of their income level. (yes I waited 7 months for my hernia to be repaired but this does not dampen my optimism)

The things for me that would really be potential threat to the good times are twofold. One we could see a dramatic political shift from the middle.. Hard Left or hard right, neither are palatable to me. Hard left hurts the economy and hard right is divisive. The second potential threat is the succession of Quebec. The Liberal fraud in that province had the makings of turning the nationalists to neutral seperatists.

I think a Harper majority would turn the country hard right and while part of me wants lower taxes my brain tells me that these same taxes make life good in Canada. While he might personally be a moderate, the yahoos in the party are omnipresent and would eventually wear him down until he started doing stupid things.. But he did not win a majority--he in fact won a thin minority and will have to govern for all. We are not going to the next Iraq without the united nations. Any major party can parry his moves. No not a lot will get done- but what do we really want to get done? Ok more money to the provinces for healthcare - at least this has a chance of happening.

On the Quebec issue the conservatives won seven seats in the francophone heartland. This is good/great. No party like the Liberals should be able to win regardless of their actions. But better news is that the Bloc only got 43% of the popular vote in Quebec. This should quell the referendum talk and we shall be safe from the distraction.

So I am happy- I think Paul Martin would have been the best choice for prime minister but the Guite inquiry skewered him. The liberal party needs renewal bring on Frank Mckenna. Jack Layton and his gal pal Olivia would have been horrid choices- their whole lives guzzling at the public trough and never building anything except dividing people.

I am happy with the election. I think the good ole days will continue.

I wish albertans would wake up and create a democracy but this is life's little trials and challenges.

Somedays the smallest things make you feel better

2006-01-28T10:20:00.000-08:00

This was my rental vehicle in the maritimes this week. It snowed I spun...I stomped but all in all I loved that truck. There is nothing like a brand new (543Km) ford F150 loaded to make a boy feel good about driving.

The trip to the maritimes was like walking through memory lane. The guys were all happy to see me. They hadn't changed- the problems in 95 are still the problems today, and the good things are still the good things.

Its strange to go from Calgary where there are few political signs and little interest in the federal election and to drive around halifax and see signs from all three parties well represented. The Geoff Regan Liberal signs were out there big and red and bold as opposed to the liberal signs in Calgary which try to hide the party. The guys -who are a rugged bunch stayed up until at least 1 to see the results on Monday night. Politics is still alive and well there
I will post another on how I think the Canadian election went.

In the end, I drove a big truck and the people are the best. The food is always a little weak and too many smart people feed at the public trough and the drivers are too polite but the people are the best in Canada.

Slacked off..midweek

2006-01-19T22:02:00.000-08:00

I couldn't help it....I had to go to the mountains for a dinner meeting so I left work at noon and skied the afternoon.. Skiing alone is mostly reflective for me. whats the world doing...? how do I really feel? Soon enough the lift is closing my thighs are burning and the weight of the world seems lighter.

The skiing itself...well this dark cloud hung on my mountain and it snowed... I am sure there was the elusive deep powder out there but at times I could not see ten feet. On one run I got completely lost and had it hoof it to high ground to get some semblence of bearings.

somehow that coffee after an afternoon of skiing is the best thing in the world.

God--Really

2006-01-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

I read a Blog recently where the Blogger was complaining about how people use God in thier lives. He pointed out quite rightly that when the world thought the 12 miners were saved it was "Praise the Lord, God has given us a miracle" It was big and bold and spontaneous. When the miners were found to have perished the Lord got off scot free and it was Kill the Company, Have better Safety rules, more Federal inspections etc etc.

The writer was definitey anti religion which I am not (being a good Catholic boy) but he defintely gives us the windshield view of human hypocrisy.

Then today I read this from AP

New Orleans Mayor Says God Mad at U.S.
Jan 16, 10:57 PM (ET)

By BRETT MARTEL
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

"Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country," Nagin, who is black, said as he and other city leaders marked Martin Luther King Day.

"Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses. But surely he is upset at black America also. We're not taking care of ourselves."

Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.

"It's time for us to come together. It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans - the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans," the mayor said. "This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be. You can't have New Orleans no other way. It wouldn't be New Orleans."

A day earlier, gunfire erupted at a parade to commemorate King's birthday. Three people were wounded in the daylight shooting amid a throng of mostly black spectators, but police said there were no immediate suspects or witnesses.

It makes you shake your head. I don't really know how God works (in spite of being a good Catholic boy) but I hope God Helps New Orleans one way or the other.