Tempus Fugit

Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies

Posts

  • FOG #2

    Today was the second ride of the year for me with the FOG cycling club. It went a lot better that the first ride. Today we did the full route of about 95km and I made it a lot farther that the first time before I thought I’d throw up and die on the side of the road. However, once we left Birds Hill park and were returning on Hwy 59 it was a real struggle. My speed drooped into the 20-25 kph range and all I could think about was making it back. Speaking of dropped, of course the rest of the group powered away, but a special thanks to Dan who hung with me, keeping me company all the way back despite several of my offers that he could just leave me.

    The cycle commuting to work has defiantly helped, but there is still a ways to go before I’m back in the kind of shape I was in at the end of last season. These winter layoffs are killers. Note to self – more training in the off season.

  • Flying home

    I’m at the Toronto airport enjoying a little free wi-fi courtesy of Cisco, unlike the Toronto Sheraton who is charging outrageous daily rates for internet access. They should really get with the program. Many lower end hotels all over North America have free wi-fi and yet many of the upscale hotels think they can still gouge the consumer. If it wasn’t the conference hotel, I’d have stayed elsewhere.

    Speaking of the conference, this years IBM blueHorizon’s 2 day educational event was one of the best I’ve attended in some time. THere were better sessions and more choices that ever. I hears someone say that there were 21 simultaneous presentations going on over the last two days across multiple streams. It was a great learning event.

    I’ve almost recovered from the sunburn gained while walking along the harbour front for all day on Sunday, and my calves have almost recovered as well. The true test will be on the next bike ride to see how well the legs hold up. The long walk had an alternate purpose as the beginning of training for a couple of days of mountain hiking in Banff this summer. The main hike will start at an elevation of 5,000 feet and climb to a mountain summit at 11,000 feet. Hey, don’t you need oxygen at over 10,000? While I will have had a solid 2+ months of cycling by that time I think I’ll throw in some extending walking to get the rest of the muscle groups ready to go. I hear they leave the injured and stragglers behind, and it is grizzly country.

    I’m looking forward to being home, see you soon.

  • Nice Ride


    Classy Bike #2
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

    Being a cyclist, this is a sad thing to see. This bike is locked outside probably some of the most expensive condos in downtown Toronto, right in the harbour front. But gauging from the rust and two flats, this bike has not seen too many miles.km lately.

  • Bikini Booty Camp


    Booty Camp

    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

    I’m in Toronto today attending a conference on Monday & Tuesday, so I flew in extra early (6:15am red-eye flight) to enjoy the day. It was sunny and quite warm so I walked along the harbour front, for a very long way. Actually, I walked for most of the day and now I’m quite tired, and little sunburned.

    I was taking photos along the way and this poster on a lamp post had me do a double take. I’ve heard of boot camp, but booty camp? Hmmm.

    The reset of the photos are here.

  • Flying

    I’m flying to Toronto this morning and twitter seems to be down so I thought a quick post via email would pass some time while waiting for takeoff.
    Two things. I booked online a week ago and it showed the first 20 rows booked solid. However, ther are only about 30-40 people onboard the Airbus 319 and those rows are generally empty!
    The other thing is a mainteance guy just came on board and looked at both wings and then talked to the flight crew. What’s up with that?
    Here we go, later.

  • First FOG of the Season

    I went out on the first FOG ride of the season this morning. Apparently, it was the first ride for almost everyone, as previous attemts had been hanpered by such trivial things as snow and freezing rain and generally nasty conditions. This morning was clear, light winds and a balmy 3°C.so the ride was a go for many people. Rene was not there and some new guy was leading the ride, so after the parking lot pre-ride instructions and a little discussion about the route, we’re off on the traditional course.

    Things are pretty normal but I’m noticing that the traditional 2up riding pattern is taking for ever to form up, and there is a lot of inconsistency in the speed as well as a lot less ride etiquette that last season. Riders are falling back and cutting in mid-pack, riding 3 and 4 across etc. The ride is generally uneventful until we get to Lockport. Lockport is a traditional first stop, but for some reason the guys at the front of the line don’t stop and nobody says anything, so we push on to Selkirk. Just before Selkirk there is the traditional sprint for the town line, but it seems a little tame, and there is only one guy who breaks away with any major enthusiasm.

    After the stop in Selkirk, a number of rides head back to Winnipeg, which is probably what I should have done, but the rest of the group agrees to push on the “The Big Bridge“. The approach to the Big Bridge, is another part of the course where there is traditionally a sprint to the top. Did I mention that this is my first ride of the year? This is where I knew I was in trouble. Last year, I could keep up with the first 4-6 riders in the pack, but this time I was having trouble staying with the group on the approach. As they started the climb, I just fell off the back, legs burning, just zapped as the entire group pulled away. At the re-group point on  the other side of the bridge, there was a very short rolling pause, and them we rode on. This is were it starts to get ugly.

    I’m struggling to keep up with the pack which has now switched up to the 35-40Kph mode. Eventually, I drop off the back and watch the pack pull away, eventually right out of site. Now I’ poking along at about 22Kph and feeling the pain. After a while I start having some unkind thoughts about the group. Weren’t  they supposed to look out for  riders who are struggling? weren’t hey supposed to ensure that nobody gets dropped and rides alone? By now I’m going so slow, I’m glad that  nobody is slowing down for me, but hey then I spot one lone rider coming back to find me and make sure I’m OK. The group is all right after all.

    I never do get to catch up the guy who came back for me as he turns around in front of me and I still can’t catch up to him. At this point I’m totally wasted. The two of us eventually re-join the group I’m guessing they had been waiting 3 or 5 minutes, perhaps more. As I rode in nobody said anything to me and I was trying very hard not the throw up. They were kind and waited one more minute before taking off again. I kept with the group for a while as we headed down Henderson Hwy, but shortly I was on my own again for the ride back to the truck. After stopping for some Goo and some fluids I felt better and was able to maintain a respectable speed for the rest of the ride.

    A very tough ride for the first of the year. I’m hoping my cycle commute will get me back into shape, hopefully soon!

  • Open Id

    en route to serving up my blog to twitter via twitterfeed, I succumbed to OpenID. Seems like a great idea and I hope more sites start using this kind of technology. I really have way to many userid/passwords already and anything that will simplify this plus increase security, I’m all for it.

  • Back on the Road

    I just checked the FOG site and it seems like rides might have started in March! Hey, I’ve been a sleep at the switch. I think I’ll be out there tomorrow at 10am for my first road ride of the year. Forecast is for mainly sunny and +9, so that should be workable.

  • Dollhouses at the Home Show


    Girl at the Dollhouse #1
    Originally uploaded by Big Dadoo

    This weekend was the Home Show in Winnipeg ant I took it in this afternoon. Lots of stuff, and lots of people. I normally skip this show, but there was somebody I knew with a very unique product exhibiting this year. Henry Hiebert is a master builder and the father of our soon to be daughter in law, Mandi. I’d seen Scott & Mandi put together the Heirlooms by EMRL web site and design some brochures for the show, and I was really interested in seeing these dollhouse in person. Some additional photos.

    They are incredible! And wow, do they interest women of all ages. His young lady was immediately drawn to the dollhouse and instantly started re-arranging the furniture. Hmmm, that sounds familiar… like “just a little to the left, no too much back just a 1/4 of an inch, actually I think it looked better against the other wall, can you move it over there?” She would have spent the rest of the day there but her mom, pulled her away.

    The rest of the show was quite interesting and since were considering some home renovations, I picked up a couple of brochures and a few ideas. On the way out, I stopped by the Advanced Home Entertainment display area. Big mistake. Have you seen the 112″ plasma HDTV for a mere $75,000? Perhaps not just yet. As about the same size, and for my taste the Sony projection unit against a screen was even better. The quality was outstanding, the viewing angle amazing, and I didn’t even know it was projection until somebody walked in front of the projector and caused a shadow in the screen. Projection has come a long way.

  • Kiwi come home

    In February of 2005 we launched Kiwi into the wild of the Geocaching world. Since that time he has traveled over 66,000 kms, crossed the Atlantic several times and achieved his goal of spending Christmas on a beach in New Zealand. He’s currently hanging out in Germany, doing who knows what! But now it’s time for him to come home. So, if you find yourself in Germany or know some friends over there, perhaps they can look him up and offer him a ride back to Winnipeg. He’s really small and doesn’t take up much space, doesn’t eat much and rarely speaks, so you’ll hardly know he’s there.