Ed's Sk8toronto Website -Weblog 2005
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Weblog -January /2005
Our time at Bedrock was very pleasant –if a little more hectic than I would have planned. For the first couple of days, we had the whole family plus my mom. For the last couple of days we entertained Kathy’s Sister Janet and daughter Jennifer. For almost the entire time we had Kaylee’s friend Sara as well.
Sara got sick with a really bad cold (fever, congestion and sore throat) almost as soon as she arrived and it really put a damper on the girl's activities. Now I am really sick –and so are Lindsay and Kaylee –but they don’t seem to have fevers like I do. I hope today is the worst day. Kathy (and Janet and Jennifer and I) had a New Years Eve dinner for the Engleburn Pointers and it was a success. The food was especially good. The weather was not perfect, as it was mostly cloudy, and we had a lot of rain on the second last night. The rain made it no fun to walk on the ice –but it looks like there could be some decent skating in a day or two. I tried with my hockey skates on the last morning but I kept breaking through the surface layer of ice to unfrozen water sitting on top of the old layer of ice. I did get out cross country skiing with Lindsay, Ian and Anke on our first day up. Conditions were fair.
The rain also made the road very treacherous as the packed snow turned into ice. Uncle Jim sanded the road but I still had to pull the truck out a snow-bank with the come-along. Janet did not make our first little hill on her first try and ended up backing her van into Sasha’s Rock (Sasha had a similar incident on my 50th Birthday). The impact bent the rim and flattened her left rear tire. I changed the tire for them and they set out on a 4 hour trip with one of those undersized spare tires.
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January 3/05
One day last week (at Bedrock), I was the first one out of bed and I discovered two deer sniffing around right behind the cottage. I watched through the window as they wandered beside the cottage and off out of site and I thought of how “Bambi-like” the whole scene had been. A couple of minutes later, as I sipped on my coffee, the two deer came dashing back at top speed followed (not too closely) by Salty (Jim and Peg’s big black poodle) and finally Uncle Jim himself (but only walking fast) and clearly yelling at Salty to stop chasing the deer. To add to the general confusion, I stuck my head out the door and yelled at Salty too. I thought of Bambi again –but this time, the part were Bambi finds out about MAN!
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I have had a horrible couple of days. My temperature has been between 99.5 and 100.5 My head is stuffed up and I have a sore throat. Yesterday, I drove Amy back to Mac and the whole thing almost killed me. I was totally exhausted when I got home. I decided, right then, that I would not go into work today if I had a fever in the morning –and I did have a fever. In the past I have always dragged myself in, no matter how bad I felt, -because things tend to fall apart when I am not around. Today it just was not worth it. I am praying that I do not get pneumonia –like the last time I felt this bad.
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January 4/05
We were pretty well insulated from the coverage of the tsunami disaster during the week between Christmas and New Years because we don’t watch any TV at Bedrock. It’s even worse than I thought. The tsunami is (for sure) the biggest natural disaster that has occurred in my lifetime. I heard an interview with a man who had lost his sister in Indonesia even though her house was 3 km from the ocean. I supposed that most victims were simply crushed in the huge mass of debris that was swept along by the wave. It would seem that death came quickly for most of those that died.
The ones that will suffer the most are the survivors. The big problem now is getting aid to them. There is no doubt that the world wants to help –the problem is that the infrastructure has be damaged or destroyed and that despite the best efforts of thousands of aid workers there is bound to be chaos for weeks to come –at least in the worst hit and most remote areas. I really hope that politics and corruption do not play a major role in the delivery of aid.
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January 6/05
After 4 bad days I am finally feeling “human” again. Yesterday, I really overdid things by going to work for the morning –and I paid dearly for the rest of the day. Today there is a bit of a snowstorm happening so we shut down the job and will try again tomorrow. The storm is the best thing that could have happened because my body really needed to just rest.
Kathy was wondering when I will be able to pull some more weight around the house and we have agreed that the day I go for a workout at the gym is the same day that I cannot expect to be “off the hook” for my “full share” of household responsibilities.
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I am starting to think more about my trip to Las Vegas with some of “the boys” from work. Strangely, it is not the lure of playing Blackjack that is occupying my thoughts. Instead, I am thinking about getting out hiking in the desert or mountains as well as lacing up my inline skates for a couple of good outings. I really wish that I could find a good skating route in Las Vegas.
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January 7/05
In the past week, I have spent a lot of time worrying about the possibility of getting pneumonia. Over 3 years ago, I somehow acquired a case of pneumonia and it was almost as if I lost a month out of my life.
I got sick on Thanksgiving Day 2001. In the morning, I went for a good long skate and for the rest of the day I re-shingled the roof of our house. We had a very nice dinner but I remember getting up from the table and announcing that I was sick. It was several days before that meal was fully digested. I knew almost right away that I was in big trouble and I made a big mistake in not going to my family doctor. Instead, I decided that all I needed was to be on some antibiotics and I headed off to the nearest walk-in clinic to get them. To my surprise and delight, the doctor said that I was fine and didn’t need any help to get better. Almost a week later, I crawled into a different clinic. That doctor sent me straight to the hospital for X-rays. At the hospital, I got the pneumonia diagnosis and several prescriptions. It took a good 3 weeks before I felt even close to normal. Even a month after getting pneumonia, I was going to bed at 6:30 pm. It was all I could do to get through the day. During the entire time, I only completely missed a couple of days of work. Most days I would drag myself in for a couple of hours and do what I could to keep things going. It kept me from going completely bonkers. The clearest memory of the whole thing was the overwhelming feeling of “diss-ease” and exhaustion that followed me around for such a long time. I felt, in a lot of ways, that I could be getting a flash of what really old age could be like.
Since that episode 3 years ago I have lived in fear of getting pneumonia ever again. I got a pneumonia shot the next winter and got a flu shot last winter, but even so, I have now had two bad chest colds since the pneumonia -that have been far worse than anything I’ve ever encountered before. It seems that now, when a cold gets into my chest, I may as well just put my life on hold for a week.
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January 8/05
I was highly amused by a TV commercial yesterday. The background music was the song by Meatloaf that goes: “I would no anything for love –but I won’t do that”. First, there are scenes of a guy buying tampons at a variety store and folding panties in a busy Laundromat. Then there is a scene where he is snuggled up on a couch with his girlfriend and she asks for a sip of his Dr. Pepper. At that point, he has no choice but to run away.
Perhaps there is a 60 second version of the commercial where the poor guy goes into a store to ask for directions while “she” waits in the car –or cleans the whole house while “she” watches TV.
They should make a female version of this commercial where the woman can’t bring herself to share her Dr Pepper.
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January 11/05
I went to the gym for the first time this year so I guess that I am finally OK. I only did ¾ of a real workout because I decided not to kill myself on the first day back. I am planning to return tomorrow to do mostly cardio rather that than the weights and other exercises that dominated today’s workout.
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Grant had an interesting and alarming experience today. He is looking after our job on the Leaside Viaduct – a gigantic bridge over the Don Valley Parkway. He was under the bridge near the railway tracks when a man jumped off the side of the bridge to commit suicide. Grant was only about 50 feet away when the guy landed with a sickening thud right in the middle of the railway tracks. There was no possibility of surviving a fall from that height so Grant didn’t get too close to the victim. Grant’s very first thought was that it was one of the workers on the job but fortunately this was not the case. This was the third jumper since our job started. It appears that the Leaside Bridge has now taken over from the Prince Edward Viaduct (which now has a suicide prevention barrier) as the favourite jumping spot for those with a death wish. I never saw any media reports on the last two jumpers and I doubt that there will be anything said about this one either. The media in Toronto is clearly following a policy of not reporting jumps off bridges or in front of subway trains. Media and city officials agree that reporting such events just encourages copy-cats. It’s a wise policy. The public doesn’t need to know everything.
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Amy caught a little thing on the TV that she was telling me about. The report was talking about one of the best female marathon inline skaters in the US who had been hit by a drunk movie star while she was skating on the street (probably in Long Beach). Amy couldn’t remember too much about the report but I suspect that the trial of the movie star is underway. I asked Amy if the girl’s name was Jenni Armstrong –and she said YES! Amy was surprised to hear that I had skated most of the National Capital Marathon in Ottawa in 2003 with Jenni, had talked to her after the race, exchanged a couple of emails regarding our race reports and then met her again at last October’s Long Beach Marathon. It’s a small world -especially the world of inline racing.
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January 13/05
I have been playing Texas Hold’em (a form of poker) online for the past few days. I have been watching this game is getting bigger and bigger down in Las Vegas over the past 6-7 years. I gather that the recent spate of poker tournaments on TV it making the game even more popular.
I am interested in this game because it seems to me that despite the fact that the casino takes a share of every pot it might be a good game to play because so many of the players are so bad at the game. If you don’t believe me, try going online and see what players are doing. Now, I would never make a claim to being gifted at this game –but I can see the obvious. Apparently, that is a skill that not everyone has.
I will report on my skill as a poker player when I return from Las Vegas. Of course, if I lose it will have been due to bad luck.
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January 14/05
I can never watch TV with my daughter Kaylee because I have zero interest in any show that appeals to her. I try not to mock her entertainment choices but it is pretty hard when she is watching some stupid makeover or survivor show or a soap opera like “The OC”.
I often find myself sitting down on the couch beside Kaylee and saying something like “why don’t we watch the news!” Meanwhile she will be entranced by some silly home makeover show that even I have seen before. Once in a while, I will be watching an episode of Star Trek and Kaylee will walk into the room. I will smile to myself as I gaze at the assortment of Klingons, Romulans, and other aliens. I usually end up saying something silly like: “Now this is proper entertainment –you just have to learn how to suspend your disbelief a little better.” Meanwhile, I am thinking that she is the one who is really able to suspend disbelief.
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Today I did something for the first time. From the inspector’s computer at work I managed to make an entry to this weblog. It was simple. Perhaps having a Yahoo website is not going to be all bad.
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January 15/05
The gym that I go to has a new cardio machine that I just love! It’s a Cybex Arc Trainer and is similar to the Cross Trainer that was my favourite up till now. The Cybex machine suits my physiology more precisely because there are two different hand positions, a range of inclines and also an almost unlimited set of resistance levels. Not only can I change the body position that I am working at but I am not forced to use my calf muscles much (they tend to cramp up after a workout on to old machine. I believe that the motion of this machine is closer to the inline stride than anything else in the gym.
Today, on my second try at this machine I was able to burn over 19 calories per minute. This is more than I have ever managed on the Cross Trainer. I think that once I have this machine figured out I will be able to work at about 20 cal/min for a good long time. This compares to only around 12 cal/min (at the same level of discomfort) on the stationery bike.
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Tomorrow morning I will be on my way to Las Vegas. To make things even better I would be working all day Sunday if it wasn’t for the trip. I am psyched.
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January 21/05
I am back from Las Vegas and, as an added bonus; it is so cold outside that we are not working today. The trip was super. Both flights arrived early, I enjoyed great weather, went on two great hikes, got out on the inlines twice and lost slightly less money than I had budgeted for. I even slept for several hours a night – (a difficult thing for me to accomplish in Las Vegas).
Hiking in the hills around Vegas was the highlight of the trip. On the first full day, Daniel and I rented a car and drove out to the Red Rock Canyon where we did a popular hike called “Turtlehead Mountain”. It was a 2500 foot climb from the valley to the peak and offered a great view of Las Vegas and Red Rock Canyon. It was a “grind” up a dry wash to a ridgeline. Near the top, we encountered snow in the shady areas but in the sunshine, at the very top, there was none. We met some “kids” (mid-twenties) at the top who had done the Arizona Hot Springs hike the day before and had met “the naked man” (see March 2004). Surprisingly, there was almost no wind at the top and we were amazed to hear that our golfing friends had a tough day down in the valley (because of the wind). For good measure, Daniel and I climbed to the top of “Turtlehead Junior”, a sandstone dome which is situated nearby. It was my 3rd trip up Turtlehead Junior so picking the route was easy (no time wasted). Daniel really enjoyed the scrambling on the sandstone and I told him all about the hike up Bridge Mountain (see March 2004) that I did last March –but which is very rarely done in January or February because of snow.
On the second day, Grant came along with Daniel and me. We went across the Hoover Dam into Arizona and climbed up onto a mesa called “Fortification Hill”. It is a fairly easy hike as the elevation gain is only 1200 feet but we had to endure a 6 mile drive on a road about as rough as a rented Ford Taurus can handle. The problem with the road was that it had not been re-graded since all the rain that fell about two weeks before. We noticed that the desert was a lot greener than we had seen it before but the change was subtle and we really couldn’t say that the desert was “in bloom”. The Mesa offered a view of Lake Meade, Las Vegas and all of the surrounding mountains. It was a fine hike –but not in the same league as some of others that I have done. I gather that I have done all of the best hikes in the area (that can be done in the winter) and will have to be content with the “B” list from now on. That’s OK.
This picture was taken after we conquered Fortification Hill which is in the background. That's Daniel on the left and Grant on the right, with our rented Ford. The route up was by the ridge to the right.
On the 3rd full day and last half day I went out on my inlines.From the window of the hotel I could see a large, empty parking lot. When I got close to it I discovered that it was surrounded with a chain link fence. The asphalt looked good so I skated the perimeter searching for a way in. At the very far end, I found a manned gate. I asked permission to skate and the guy said to go ahead. It was a little like doing laps in a pool but I would estimate that the loop was around 800-900 meters long because it took around a minute and 45 seconds to do each loop. On the first day, I did 16 loops and then had bad luck at the blackjack table (I kept getting 16 on my first two cards). Next day, I fixed up the situation by doing 21 loops. This changed my luck on the last day. I really enjoyed the skating, as the weather was warm and sunny and fairly calm, the asphalt was great and I had no traffic to contend with. It appears as if this will be the only skating that I do in January.
My luck at the tables was not good. I was really excited about trying Texas Hold-em and had practiced a bit on the computer. Unfortunately, I am either a bad poker player or I did not have good luck. I will try poker again on the next trip in an attempt to resolve the question. Despite loosing, I enjoyed the experience –and I did make my money last a long time (it’s just that, in the long run I did loose it).
My luck at blackjack was bad too –except on the last day (after skating my 21 loops). If not for this one good run, I would have to report that I had lost all the money I had taken to gamble with. It is always nice to do well on the last day. My friend Grant had great luck, played skilfully, exercised good judgement and took home over $1000 US. Way to go –Grant!
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January 22/05
Las Vegas continues to change. For a while there was a trend toward making it a more kid-friendly place. I wouldn’t exactly say that the trend is in full reverse but you know that something is up when Treasure Island drops their pirate theme and starts calling itself TI –in hopes that everyone forgets the real name. They still have the free show at the front of the hotel but now it is not a bunch of pirates who sink a British Navy ship. Instead the pirates lose in a battle with some female/pirate/sirens. Somehow I think the original show was a tad more realistic –historically speaking. Anyway, you can see where the trends are headed.
It is not true that TI is going topless as I reported on October 22nd. The Blackjack dealer that I asked about it had never heard of such a thing and actually scoffed at the very idea. He gave me several reasons that it would never happen (not fair to existing workforce, would have to post a guard on every door, poor idea in a business sense etc). He also said that he wouldn’t want to see very many of the existing cocktail waitresses without their breasts well covered.
The game of Blackjack is still changing too. TI was not dealing any games out of a shoe (a plastic device that holds 8 decks). Instead, in an attempt (probably successful) to foil card counters, most of the games were employing automatic shuffling machines which randomize the cards quickly and completely. This changes the game because there are no pauses for the dealer to shuffle the cards –and relentless play tends to stifle meaningful conversation at the table. Conversation, while the dealer shuffles up, is important because it gives the players a little “time out”. The other major form of blackjack that was being played was a one deck game that only paid 6-5 on a blackjack rather than the traditional 2-1. In addition, the one deck game does not allow “surrender” –a valuable option for the player. In both games, the dealers are now hitting soft 17s –another example of the casinos changing the rules to benefit themselves.
There is a brand new casino being constructed across the street from TI. It’s called The Wynn (after Steve Wynn –the owner of TI, The Mirage, MGM Grand the Golden Nugget and probably lots more). It is apparently going to cater to the “high roller” crowd. They are now taking applications for dealers and getting a lot of them because the tips will be huge.
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January 23/05
I fell sound asleep in the oddest place. Yesterday at the gym, near the end of my workout, I went into the large room that they use for step classes, and so on. The room has mirrors on two walls, a stretching (ballet) bar down another wall and a bunch of mats, exercise balls, portable steps and mini dumbbells in cubby-holes on the 4th wall. The ceiling is made from those standard metal trusses that are found in so many commercial buildings.
Anyway, I went in to do some crunches, lunges and a few other exercises that I don’t use the machines for. Near the end, I decided to stretch a little. After one of the stretches’ in which I was lying flat on my back, I just closed my eyes and went to sleep! I have no idea if I was out for 10 seconds or 10 minutes! I woke up, with a bit of a start, and tried to look discreetly around to see if anyone was looking at me. None of the 3 or so others in the room seemed to be paying any attention. This brings to mind a great number of evenings that I spent with my parents at their cottage when I was building my own. After dinner and dishes, my father would pick up a book at the far end of the cottage and my mother would watch TV. I would usually take up a position where I could see them both and plan my next day’s activities while watching the tube with Mom. Every once in a while I would be treated to one of the strangest sights I have ever beheld. I would look at Mom to make a comment about what was on the TV and see that she had fallen asleep –sitting up, with her head back and her false teeth completely out of position. Next, I would look at Dad and he would also be asleep –sitting up with his head leaning forward, the book on his lap and his gonads clearly visible up the nightshirt that he always wore in the evenings.
I always wondered next which one of my parents I would resemble more in my old age. It seems that I may develop my own style of falling asleep.
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January 26/05
Johnny Carson died a couple of days ago. He was the king of the late night talk show hosts when I was a teenager. For years, my mother and I engaged in a ritual of watching the CBC news, at 11pm, and then watching the Tonight Show –to the point where Carson finished his nightly monologue. I used to love it when his jokes bombed and I would howl with laughter while my poor mother would scratch her head and wonder what was so funny. Sometimes his jokes were actually funny and I would laugh for that reason. Again, my mother would never get the jokes but was always quietly amused by my antics.
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January 29/05
I started reading “The Last Juror” by John Grisham on the plane on the way to Vegas and now I have finished. It’s a pretty good book. It is set in a small Mississippi town in the seventies. The book is a thriller but Grisham develops a strong sense of “place” as events like de-segregation, Viet Nam, and drugs make their marks on the town and surrounding county. The story is told in the first person (a rare event these days) and Grisham pulls it off very well. Events unfold through the eyes of Willie Traynor, the young owner of the county newspaper –and a new resident of the area. Willie acts as a bridge between the two societies (Black and White) and many of the subgroups that exist around town. He strikes up a special friendship with a Black lady who is the head of a large and very unique family and she becomes the last juror in a murder trial.
The main events in the story, are the rape and murder of a young widow (and mother), the trial of the obvious killer and the shocking events that occur when the murderer is paroled. The book is simply written, probably about a grade 8 reading level (in fact, the Harry Potter books are tougher to read than Grisham) but the simple writing style does not detract from the tale. All in all –a good read.
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January 31/05
End of the Month Skating Report When the month began I was at the cottage –and just starting to come down with a terrible cold. As a result, I didn’t get any exercise whatsoever until around the 10th of January. I got back into the gym a few times before taking off to Las Vegas on the 16th. I was pretty active in Las Vegas as I went on two major hikes and got out on the inlines twice. From the window of the hotel I could see a big empty parking lot and upon further investigation I found that the asphalt was good and the attendant was willing to let me skate.
Thinking back on the skating, the most amazing thing was how easy it was. Usually, when I get back to outdoor skating in the spring, I have a mighty struggle with my lungs, my ankles and my back. None of these things were the slightest issue in my two wonderful skates around that parking lot in Las Vegas. This makes me think that the “troubles” I experience each spring are really caused more by the cold weather than by the fact that I have not been skating.
I was a regular visitor to the gym in the last part of the month where I fell in love with a new cardio machine that they have installed. Just for fun, I stayed on the machine for an hour and managed to burn off 1210 calories –a whopping 20 calories per minute. I figure that if I could get myself and my new machine onto the Ontario Hydro power grid and they would pay me 8 cents per kilowatt hour I would be able to make over 2 cents per hour as a source of energy. Perhaps I should write a letter to Dalton McGuinty and suggest that he tap into all the gyms in the province.
I am really eager to get skating outside but I know, from looking back over my logs, that skating is really “iffy” until the beginning of April. Last year my first day was Feb 29 and I managed to get out quite a few times in March. The year before, I did not skate until March 17th. In 2002 my first day was Feb 19th and in 2001 it was March 18th. In 2000 it was March 8th and the year before it was Feb 27 –but there was no skating for a 3 week period in March. My first ever time on inline skates was May 1/1998.
What it takes to allow the possibility of skating in late Feb and March is no snow cover. Warm weather is great -but if there is snow around it will be melting and creating a disaster (wet roads) for skaters. As far as March weather goes, I would gladly trade cool weather with no snow on the ground for warmer weather that is melting big piles of snow.
Outside of Toronto, the price of gas has risen to over a dollar per litre I always knew I would see this price for gas but I never thought it would happen in 2005. When I was young the price of gas was 29 cents a gallon. That’s about 6.5 cents per litre and a 15 fold increase in around 45 years. 
Today, my brother Roger went to Carveth’s Marina and traded in mom’s 9.9 (a 1977 Evinrude) for a 1957 Johnson 18hp outboard motor. He got $300 for the 9.9 and bought the 18 for $500. The 18 is one of those burgundy-coloured ones with the big, rounded motor housing. The housing design must have been inspired by the big automobiles of the day. Back then, the darned motors (in both the outboard motors and the cars) were so simple that almost anyone could fix them. Then in the mid-60s, they started with all the pollution controls and computer stuff. 
Kaylee noticed yesterday that as the toenail polish is coming off her right big toe it has taken the shape of Canada. Most amazing really -but I doubt that east-coasters would be impressed and even Quebec is a little shortchanged. The Arctic Archipelago is also missing -but it's still a good likeness for a toenail.