I Think I'm NUTS...

Okay, am I nuts? I'm actually thinking of running a half marathon in September. Keep in mind that I haven't been exercising with any degree of consistency for the better part of a year. I was up to 35 minutes on the treadmill at the gym last summer (I know, the road is *very* different) but that was running 3 miles, not the 13 that I would run in the Port Perry Half Marathon. For us Canucks, that's a 21.1km run. I only stated it in miles because the treadmill was logging miles and that was my point of reference. I found a training schedule that'll get me up to 5km in 8 weeks and then I'll move to another schedule that'll prepare me for the big event for July and August.

By the way, if you answered my opening question... I don't wanna hear it! BUGGER OFF! :-)

There are several places I'm drawing inspiration from for this craziness:

1. My buddy Jim is doin' this event and even though he's in better shape, I know where he came from and I think I may just be able to get there too.
2. Another friend GeWilli is getting back into cycling after several years out of it. Okay now, he started from a better place than me but still, it's the fact that he's back into it and so passionate about that I find inspiring.
3. My sister's childhood friend is doing an Ironman triathalon. (!) Holy crap! Now there's craziness!

I was chattin' with Jim this morning (gotta love that Google Talk!) and he said that since he started living a more healthy lifestyle, he wakes up feelin' better than the day before to which I responded "I wake up every morning feelin' like I want a stack of waffles." ...there's yer sign.

Speakin' of that, I love listening to the Blue Collar Comedy Channel on Sirius during my drive home. I always end up at some point laughing outloud and making people in the cars around me think I'm nuts... er... perhaps this is a good place to close off for the day.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone!

g.

e-support for Family...

My sister is trying to get a blog up. She asked to help her last week but I didn't have time. I just got it up and she should be posting something soon. Her blog is at http://renoofthefarmhouse.blogspot.com/. Check it and see what she has to say.

Biodiesel... cool fuel

I saw a neat program on OLN last night; CoolFuel: USA Roadtrip:Soybeans, Oregon & Washington. It was really cool (hence the show title, LOL!), the had several different vehicles that ran on biodiesel. What surprised me most was how positive and fired up Marie got about the whole biodiesel thing. I mean, she's heard it before but for some reason she got excited about it last night.

I was banging my head against walls a couple o' years back trying to get a business case together to start a business with a biodiesel plant. Problem was, $15 million was the price tag and when you don't have anything to start with, it's next to impossible to get anyone to listen to you. Anyway, I'm beginning to get ideas again but on a smaller scale. I think that Canola (rapeseed) would be a good feedstock to start with, along with waste veggie oil (WVO). I need to find a low energy method for producing the fuel. Sounds like I'll be doin' a lot of googlin' for the next little while. Then I need to find a local supply for the feedstock. I think that's the easy part. Hmmm... my mind is chuggin' away on this one. It's not so much a money-maker but talk about makin' a positive impact on "life".

Anyway, I've been writin' all this in between various google searches so I should stop this and get back to the grind.

See ya, and thanks for readin'.

g.

Time is flyin' by...

Holy Crap! It's only 112 days until we leave for 'gonquin.

I finally picked up my pack. The whole ordeal of buying it was almost painful. I bought it off a guy in Montreal back in January. He's a student and I think there were many distractions for him once he had it sold. Thankfully I arranged an in-person cash deal so that I didn't get taken.

Anyway, here's a review of it. I dropped by Jim's on the way home with it and we gave it the once-over and I have to say that I'm really impressed with it. This is a pack I would never have bought from the store. By that I mean, it's way out of my price range. I would've wanted to buy it but I couldn't justify the $350-450 price tag. I have to say that I'm pretty proud of the fact that I got it for $100. It has some marks on it but functionally it's in perfect condition. Now I just have to figure out all the features. Jim has a book on how to pack and carry your backpack to minimize fatigue.

As I've said before, this is going to be the first year that I do the kind of camping I always intended to do in Algonquin. This is going to be physically demanding and require light weight packing and that really gives me a buzz. Jim and I were talking and someone asked him, "What if it rains?" and we're both of the opinion that it will only make it more triumphant when we lift the canoe out of Cedar Lake at the end of the trip. Will it make it harder? Hell yeah, but it's nothing we're not up to.

A little side note: it kinda wierd that I'm talking about it raining on our trip and right now there is a big storm brewing and there was just a long, very loud, window rattlin' roll of thunder.

Freaky.

Back to 'gonquin. I've started to eat right again (it took a long time for me to get out of vacation mode) and I managed one visit to the gym this week. Next week will be better, I'll be back to three days again. I want to make sure that I'm not slowing us down on the portages and not puttin' out the power on the long stretches of paddlin'.

I think I'm gonna gather everything I plan on taking and do a mock pack-up this weekend to see what the pack feels like. Granted I won't be able to put the food in but I'll put something else in there to simulate the space and weight I figure the food will be.

Speakin' of food, does anyone know any good things I can make in my food dehydrator. A good recipe for jerky would be a good place to start. Also, if there are certain fruits that are better than others for this type of a trip, speak up and let me know. I knew the dehydrator my Mom was tossing out would come in handy one day. (see my previous post about being a pack-rat. I come by it honestly!)

Well, I gotta get some stuff done before I go home for the weekend. It's a long weekend here in Canada. We get Good Friday off. Have a good weekend and I'll post about how my mock pack-up goes and what crazy looks I get from my wife next week.

Happy Easter!

De-cluttering house = satisfied feeling

Well, we spent the weekend doing our very own "Clean Sweep" of our basement. Wow, what a satisfying experience. We have stuff that hasn't seen the light of day since we moved into the house almost six years ago. That was the measure I used when trying to decide if something stays or goes. I'd ask myself, "Have I missed this in the past six years?". If the answer was no, then it was a strong candidate for tossing. There were things that get kept, like certain family keepsakes or books that just need to be put on a bookshelf. We made three "piles"; keep, toss and garage sale. If we have enough garage sale items, we'll have one. If we don't, then we're just gonna toss it all.

Man alive! Do we ever keep a lot of paper! I mean, there stuff you hafta keep, like tax related paperwork but honestly, why the *&#) did I keep computer newspapers from 7 years ago? I have no clue but they've been recycled now. There were some old tax papers that we can throw out now and man, did it ever feel good to toss those! I know, twisted way to feel pleasure.

Marie's parents are helping us to finish off our basement which is what is motivating us to get this stuff cleaned up. We'll move our TV down there and I'm putting a office there so that I can do more work from home days. We're glad we paid the extra money for the larger basement windows. The south facing windows let in a good amount of light during the day. I was reading up on how to soundproof your basement. Got a few ideas (a double wall for the office with insulation between), insulating the ceiling with using sound isolating strips to mount the drywall on. If you have any tips, let me know.

Well, I've already wasted enough time today, back to the wonderful world of Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning. Such happy topics!

g.

What a week!

Startin' the week off the way I did was bound to make the rest of the week drag on. Tryin' to catch up at work was kinda crazy too. Lots of work, some stuff with clear action plans, others I was/am stumbling my way through.

The commute seemed a little harder this week. You'd think that a guy who loves road trips wouldn't mind a long drive into work but it's two different things. I have to say that my SIRIUS Sportster Replay does help. I got that on my trip down south. I decided to get the U.S. subscription because of the line-up and the number of channels versus the Canadian line-up. I know, I know, CANCON is good in that it supports Canadian Talent but it can get a little frustrating. The whole Stern thing didn't even play in the decision. I mean, I have listened to him and I do find I'm drawn to it like all the rubber-necks that insist on crawling by the minor fender-bender on my drive in. C'mon people! The tow truck and police have it under control and it's in the opposite lanes to us so why are we stoppin' to gawk? I can understand if you're first on the scene and you want to try and help but now you just spectating!

Sorry, I'm back. That's just one of my peeves on the drive in.

Well, as my buddy Jim has blogged for all the world to know (and they *should* care), it's less than 4 months until we go off on our canoe trip! I'm really stoked about this trip. This is the trip I always wanted to do into Algonquin's interior. We're packing real light and doing a loop that Jim describes in his blog. I'm also lookin' forward to the photography opportunities. We took some really good pictures last year, I'd venture to say we took a few GREAT pics. I love the freedom of digital photography - snap away as many times as you want (or have room for on the memory card). You can always delete the ones you don't want later or just archive them all, good and bad, when you get back to the 'puter.

Well, break's over, I've gotta get a couple o' more things done before I leave for the weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Back from the dead... I think.

Wow.

We just had a flu go through our house and it spared no one. It all started Thursday when Marie said she wasn't feeling well. After the kids were in bed she started with the "I'm gonna be sick" noises that she makes. She doesn't handle being sick very well. My approach is more practical; if I'm going to be sick, it'll speed the recovery. In other words, if it has to happen, let's get it over with. After a little while my oldest son appeared at the bottom of the stairs saying he wasn't feeling well.

Oh crap.

Let's just say that I was moving between the main bathroom and our ensuite while my son and Marie took turns "talking on the porcelain phone". I decided the best thing was to quarantine them in one room and I slept on the floor so that I'd hear them if they needed me. It turned out it was less "sleeping" on the floor and more just lying on the floor between bouts.

Anyway, Saturday morning came and everyone seemed to be almost back to normal and I declared (prmaturely) that I had survived. I had been diligent with the hand-washing and limiting my exposure to the stricken ones.

Move on to 03:00 Monday morning. My stomach was cramping and I wasn't feeling good at all. I called in sick to work and by noon was making my own long distance calls on the porcelain phone.

Anyway, here I am at home trying to do some work but I'm finidng it hard to concentrate so I thought I'd take a break and write a little update here. I'm going to try and get a little more work done after I take a little nap on the couch afterall, it's not everyday I can nap on the couch and get away with it - "Honey, I'm not feeling well. I'm just going to have a nap." "Okay Gerry, I hope you feel better soon."

Okay, I may be milking it a little but who hasn't done that before.