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AlgonquinSeptember 4, 2007
It has been too long since I journeyed North for some good old Canadian fun, so I was really happy to be able to join the guys this year for a 4 day trip. So what did I get myself into?! Here are some random memories:
  | Who could forget the 2007 Algonquin Chipmunk Olympics? The feature event was the paddle throw, and the winner was definitely chippy #2 who scored 10 points for his "Look at me, I grabbed the tree on the way up!". |
| Mr. Ball made an appearance in 2007 with his two twins of the tennis variety. The highlight was Vaughn getting it in the head via Matty Langeman. The ball bounced from head to bush. When the question "Who's gonna go get that?", is asked, Matty cleverly replies "Vaughn touched it last". |
| Hearing the two rear canoes break into a round of "Row row row your boat" at the top of their Mennonite lungs on none other than Ralph Bice Lake. The onlookers of which there were several must have been amazed or scared or both. |
| Speaking of Ralph Bice, the lake was previously known as "Butt" lake. This made for endless smirks... "My Ralph Bice hurts!" |
| Diving for frisbees off a rock in the lake... the sort of thing that never gets old for a bunch of goofy guys. |
| Seeing the sun break through the clouds for the first time in two days. Cause for the "Halilujia" chorus to be heard spontaneously in one's head. |
| The Oreos on Saturday were decidedly most excellent. Almost as good as the infamous ham sandwiches. |
| Going for a 50 minute swim on Saturday. I'm going to need to speed the heck up if I'm ever going to do an Ironman. I think I only covered about 1.3 km in the 50 minutes! |
| Who could forget that beast of a green canoe? I think it weighed about 70 pounds, and I could only carry it about 300m before I had to dump it and take a break. And yet, strangely, isn't that part of why we do these crazy things? To form meaningful relationships with heavy objects that we sling on our backs? I'll miss that thing. |
Here are some assorted
pictures that Daniel Morden took. Of the few I appear in, most times I look pretty zonked :)
CRTC & NASA TVAugust 21, 2007
After some googling this week I was very disappointed to read
this article. Apparently the CRTC has refused pleas from both cable providers and individuals to allow the broadcast of NASA TV to Canadian homes, on the technicality that the channel is foreign and would put providers over their limit for the amount of foreign material they are allowed to air.
Update: I filled in a web form on CRTC's website to inquire about this and was impressed with their response time. Within a few days I got a response back that linked to an article from a couple of months ago detailing their decision to allow NASA TV to be broadcast. Yay! Hopefully Rogers and others will get the channel into their lineup this year.
Shuttle Endeavor
August 14, 2007
Last week on the day of the shuttle launch, Meredith and I were driving across town. I wasn't able to watch on TV, so instead we turned on the radio incase CBC was covering the launch. Sure enough, just as we got the station tuned we heard "3 2 1..." followed by the ignition of the engines. It's uncanny how these launches bring a tear to my eye. I don't know what it is. But as we sat there and listened to the roar of the launch and heard the announcers describe the shuttle passing all of the critical parts of the ascent, there was a tangeable sense of emotion. This will be the last shuttle flight with a Canadian on board, ever. The shuttle is due to retire in a couple of years.
The following night it was unfortunately cloudy, otherwise I would have been able to see the ISS fly over followed right behind in the sky by the space shuttle that was due to dock the next day at noon.
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