Damn 2-hour mark

Well, I travelled all the way to Ottawa this weekend to give my 2-hour time goal another attempt in the NCM Ottawa Half-Marathon. Given a few other set-backs (read: good excuses) prior to race day including a horrible cold, ongoing chest injury, and stolen shoes (ie. had to break in brand new shoes 2 days before race day), my race did not go as well as hoped. I think my only really legitimate excuse can be focussed on the intense heat that day (which winter training does not prepare one for). After an extremely tough race, I finished with a chip time of 2:04:04.

I guess it wasn't meant to be this time around. However, there's nothing like determination... I'm already planning my training for next year! Hoping to incorporate some heart-rate training that I've heard so much about. Should be fun! For now though, I think I'm gonna switch up my physical activity and focus on the biking, trail running, and baseball (haha... if you can call that physical activity!).

My boobs

I realize this is a rather odd post... but holy crap!... I can not believe how small my boobs are these days! It kind of just happened too. Just last Christmas my family actually ended up in a conversation about how big my chest looked in a sweater I was wearing (yes... that is a conversation to go down in the family history books). But during my visit to Victoria Secret last month, I realized that I have shrunk an entire cup size - maybe even more! I'm guessing this is due to the fact that I have lost over 15 lbs since January, but MAN, I had no idea that I stored so much fat in my chest. Kind of disappointing really. If this isn't incentive to put those pounds back on, I don't know what is!!?

My scarf

I finally managed to finish my scarf this weekend. It's awesome! So soft and fuzzy! Click here to see a pic!

I'm taking orders for Christmas 2006. If I start now, I just *may* have them done by then... ;)

BRUTAL!

I'm currently sitting here at my computer while at the same time channel surfing on the TV in my room. I am trying to watch the finale of American Idol but am feeling the strong urge to continually flip away from it as a result of the pain my ears are experiencing from Carrie's off-key singing. Granted, I haven't been following the show this season, I'm not quite sure how she made it this far given her aparent inability to stay in tune. If I were choosing to vote tonight (which I'm not), I know who my clear winner would NOT be!

Cuddle Parties

My friend Trina stumbled across an ad for a "cuddle party" the other night when she was waiting outside the cafe we were meeting at to celebrate her birthday. This sounded like a rather interesting idea, so we did some reasearch on this one and came across the following link: www.cuddleparty.com. A rather interesting concept. Don't know if I could handle this one cause I have a feeling I would be weirded out and too afraid of the weirdos you might meet at such a convention, but the idea certainly is a good one. It's amazing how much we need human touch and how much you notice it when it's not there...

Another useful forward - this time on Credit Card fraud

SCENE 1

A friend went to the local gym and placed his belongings in the locker. After the workout and a shower, he came out, saw the locker open, and thought to himself, "Funny, I thought I locked the locker...........hmmmmm."

He dressed and just flipped the wallet to make sure all was in order. Everything looked okay - all cards were in place. A few weeks later his credit card bill came - a whopping bill of $14,000! He called the credit card company and started yelling at them, saying that he did not make the transactions.

Customer care personnel verified that there was no mistake in the system and asked if his card had been stolen. ”No," he said, but then took out his wallet, pulled out the credit card, and yep - you guessed it - a switch had been made. An expired similar credit card from the same bank was in the wallet. The thief broke into his locker at the gym and switched cards.

Verdict: The credit card issuer said since he did not report the card missing earlier, he would have to pay the amount owed to them. How much did he have to pay for items he did not buy? $9,000.00! Why were there no calls made to verify the amount swiped? Small amounts rarely trigger a "warning bell" with some credit card companies. It just so happens that all the small amounts added up to big one!

SCENE 2

A man at a local restaurant paid for his meal with his credit card. The bill for the meal came, he signed it, and the waitress folded the receipt and passed the credit card along. Usually, he would just take it and place it in his wallet or pocket. Funny enough, he actually took a look at the card and, lo and behold, it was the expired card of another person.

He called the waitress and she looked perplexed. She took it back, apologized, and hurried back to the counter under the watchful eye of the man. All the waitress did while walking to the counter was wave the wrong expired card to the counter cashier, and the counter cashier immediately looked down and took out the real card. No exchange of words --- nothing! She took it and came back to the man with an apology.

Verdict: Make sure the credit cards in your wallet are yours. Check the name on the card every time you sign for something and/or the card is taken away for even a short period of time. Many people just take back the credit card without even looking at it, thinking that it has to be theirs.

For your own sake, develop the habit of checking your credit card each time it is returned to you after a transaction!

SCENE 3

Yesterday I went into a pizza restaurant to pick up an order that I had called in. I paid by using my Visa Check Card which, of course, is linked directly to my checking account. The young man behind the counter took my card, swiped it, and then laid it flat on the counter as he waited for the approval, which is pretty standard procedure.

While he waited, he picked up his cell phone and started dialing. I noticed the phone because it is the same model I have, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then I heard a click that sounded like my phone sounds when I take a picture. He then gave me back my card but kept the phone in his hand as if he was still pressing buttons.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking: I wonder what he is taking a picture of, oblivious to what was really going on. It then dawned on me: the only thing there was my credit card, so now I'm paying close attention to what he is doing.

He set his phone on the counter, leaving it open. About five seconds later, I heard the chime that tells you that the picture has been saved. Now I'm standing there struggling with the fact that this boy just took a picture of my credit card. Yes, he played it off well, because had we not had the same kind of phone, I probably would never have known what happened.

Needless to say, I immediately canceled that card as I was walking out of the pizza parlor. All I am saying is be aware of your surroundings at all times. Whenever you are using your credit cards, take caution and don't be careless. Notice who is standing near you and what they are doing when you use your card. Be aware of phones because many have a camera phone these days.

When you are in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress brings your card and receipt for you to sign, make sure you scratch the number off. Some restaurants are using only the last four digits, but a lot of them are still putting the whole thing on there. I have already been a victim of credit card fraud and, believe me, it is not fun. The truth is that they can get you even when you are careful, but don't make it easy for them.

Happy Birthday and Congratulations!

A huge congrats goes out to Andrea who just completed her first FULL marathon last weekend in Mississauga. I'm so proud of her and am so happy for her accomplisment. What a tough thing to do! Personally, I think I'll stick with my half-marathon races for the next while…

Happy Birthday to Trina who turns 26 today! Hope your day is as special as you are!

Seattle

The second half of my journey began with a Greyhound trip down to Seattle (after stopping at the enormously huge MEC in Vancouver on my way to the bus station). The ride to Seattle was minimally entertaining, however, I still managed to come out of it with some interesting stories. Firstly, I almost managed to get myself fined by US customs for failing to claim a grapefruit in my possession. They asked if I had any fruit in my bag and I told them about an apple and an orange that I had saved for lunch. They had to confiscate the orange due to some issue they are having with some strain of fruit fly, but when my bag went through the scanner, they managed to find a grapefruit that I had forgotten about at the bottom of my bag. They informed me that they *could* had fined me $200 for failure to disclose that info, but they let me off easy because they believed that I had genuinely forgotten about that piece of fruit. All in all though, I’d say that the US customs people were much friendlier than I expected. My second story involves me slamming my finger in the bathroom door on the Greyhound. My bladder was about to burst, and since there were no public washrooms available at customs, I held my breath, walked in, and WHAMMO – the door slammed right on the nail of my middle finger. I nearly passed out from the pain, but managed to suppress the high-pitched squeal that was ready to escape. The most annoying part: the bus driver decided to make a 20 minute stop at Burger King around the corner since there were no bathrooms at the border. Nice eh?

I arrived in Seattle to another beautiful, sunny, and warm day. The Greyhound station is in a good location downtown and it was a short walk up to Bauhaus (an alternative coffee shop with a capital “A”) that Ming suggested I hang out at. I spent the afternoon with a latte in hand, reading a book, and soaking up the sun while I waited for Ming to get home from work. As soon as Ming showed up, we were on our way to China town for a dinner with his soccer team where I experienced “Hot Pot” for the first time. Yum yum! After that I had a quiet evening at Ming and Cormie’s new apartment while the three of us combined our math skills / creativity to hang pictures on their living room wall.

The next day was my 2nd day of rain while I got lost on Capitol Hill trying to make my way downtown. By the time I found the bus stop, the sun was shining and I arrived just in time for lunch with the gang at Amazon. Amazon is in a beautiful building and has an amazing view of the city! They also have a wicked cafeteria! The rest of my afternoon was spent walking downtown, along the waterfront, and through Pike Place Market. That evening I joined Natalie and her soccer friends for a game of scrimmage in a beautiful park on the hill. It was so much fun!! I forgot how much I love playing soccer! Later that night we headed out to Chapel (Ming’s favourite bar in the entire city of Seattle) for some drinks. The next morning I woke up hang-over free, but equally as sore as the morning after my race. I have learned that soccer muscles are ENTIRELY different from long-distance running muscles!

I hobbled around downtown Seattle on Thursday doing some shopping in the American Stores. Found myself a good deal on some khakis from Gap (I love bargain shopping) but spent far too much money at Victoria’s Secret. I’ve heard that you can’t beat a good VS bra, and I fell victim to that one – big time! Oops. Oh well… hopefully I will see it as an investment – I haven’t experienced buyer’s remorse on this one yet, so I think I’m in the clear. That night I cooked dinner for Ming and Cormie and shared Pilsbury cinnamon rolls with Natalie while we watched The OC.

Friday I had planned a trip to Mt Si to see what sort of views it could offer but after a complication with the rental car company, it was too late for me to get that adventure started. So instead I settled for an afternoon journey to a beautiful park with an awesome view of the city. I came home that night in time for a BBQ “chez Ming”, and we entertained ourselves by Googling “world records”, having chin-up competitions, and trying on various articles of clothing ;) Later that night we visited another bar on Capitol Hill, and stumbled home around 2am. It appears that I somehow managed to fall asleep in Cormie’s bathroom, but John was nice enough to wake me up when he found me and I slept beautifully on my futon for the rest of the night. I re-claimed my title “Queen of no hangovers” the next morning, and went out to experience the famous breakfast Taco from a local diner. It was deelish!

My final day in Seattle was another beautiful day. Ming, Cormie, Nat, Diana, and myself went for a walk in another park, and played Frisbee/soccer/football at the same time. It was a great relaxing way to finish my trip and from there it was back to the Greyhound to make my way back up to Vancouver. On my way home I was very surprised to find that Canadian customs was less friendly than the officials I met at the American border on my way down. I also met some silly English boys on the bus who seemed terribly stressed about learning that Canada used a different currency than America (haha… it was pretty funny). I stayed that night at Alice’s apartment (she graciously offered the keys to her place since she was away that weekend) and I got up early the next morning to take in my last Vancouver sites before heading home. I had planned to climb Grouse Mountain, but after missing my first bus, the journey was going to be to tight (I was not wanting to miss my flight), so I opted for grabbing a latte from Starbucks and enjoying the scene down at Kitsilano beach. Words really can’t express it – it was AWESOME! Vancouver certainly is a unique city. Us Ontarions could learn a thing or two from them in terms of stress levels.

When I arrived home, I was kindly picked up by Andrea and Graham at the airport who took me to their place to grab my car that they let me store in their driveway for the week. Silly Graham had even taken the time to clean a bit of the interior of my car and change my rubber winter mats over to my summer ones. What a guy!

And now I’m back to the grind. Vacations never seem to be long enough!

Huge thanks to Ming and Cormie for putting up with me for the week. I had a great time and hopefully didn’t get *too* in the way. You guys will have to come back to Waterloo so I can return the favour! Oh yeah… and thanks to Cormie for letting me steal his MEC pack for the week :)

Reflections on my trip out West

It’s certainly been a while since my last post. The month of April was spent gearing down for my half-marathon in Vancouver which I completed last Sunday, May 1st, followed by a week vacation out West.

My journey began on April 29th when I left the cold/wet/snowy spring weather in Ontario, to arrive in sunny/warm Vancouver. Upon arrival, my very first observation was the vast amount of “green” that I saw. My first stop was Stanley Park, so I hopped on a bus and headed straight downtown. Although I tried to be cautious of the amount of walking I was doing (pack and all!), I couldn’t help but want to explore the beauty that the park had to offer. And since it was a beautiful day, I had to capitalize on the opportunity! I enjoyed a walk along some of the forested trails and ended up at “Third Beach” where I spent the afternoon relaxing with a book in hand, the mountains in view, and the sun on my face. Later that evening, I met up with Alice at her place near Kitsilano beach and we headed out for all-you-can-eat sushi (yum!) with her friend, Devin.

Saturday morning, Alice and I picked up my race kit and spent the rest of the afternoon at the Vancouver aquarium (while we tried to minimize the amount of walking). Dinner that night was a spaghetti “carb-load”, and then I was early to bed with pre-race jitters. The next morning I awoke to the same pre-race nerves along with the scary realization that I just *may* have done too much walking the two-days prior. My legs were SORE (not a good way to feel on race day) and I was desperately wishing I had my own personal massager to prep me for my race. Instead, I settled for a warm shower, an Advil, and what little amount of oatmeal I could stomach. Despite everything, my race experience was awesome! (and the feelings and emotions experienced deserve an entire post just on their own!). I made it to the race start with close to an hour to spare and so I spent that time admiring the sites surrounding me, reflecting on what I had done to reach that point, and focusing on my race. With the shot of the gun, I was off!... ok… well, sort of. Two minutes AFTER the sound of the gun, I finally crossed the start line to begin the 22.1 kms that lay ahead. This time around I vowed to resist the urge to take off with the adrenaline in my body in order to conquer a “negative-split” time. After numerous uphills and one REALLY LONG 10+ minute climb, the last portion of the course was generally a comfortable downhill and I was right on target for my goal time of 2 hours. The last 3 kms I was feeling good and doing my best to keep my pace right around 5 min/km. As I neared the finish line, I was eyeing my watch and givn’ it all I had. When all was said and done, my final time was 2 hours and 22 seconds – 22 seconds off my goal time, but a 16 second improvement over last year in Ottawa. Given the many many circumstances (and excuses) I have (too much sight-seeing, time-change, difficult course), I’m pleased with my time. I’ve already decided though, that I’m gonna give it another go in Ottawa in another month.

That afternoon Alice and I took advantage of the yet-again beautiful weather and headed out to Capilano Bridge to check out the famous suspension bridge and Tree-Tops attraction. If she’d been up to it, I think I would have also tackled Grouse Mountain since we were right in the area, but I decided to let my body rest and we headed home for a quiet evening in.

The next day was a crap day weather-wise, so I spent the day shopping on Robson Street and in Granville market. Found myself a really cool necklace, a couple of great bargains, and picked up a bottle of wine to share with Alice that evening. After a yummy pasta dinner out, we came back to her apartment and both fell asleep after one glass of wine each. So much for a wild girls night!

I had planned to spend the next couple of days on Vancouver Island doing some whale watching and possibly even some surfing lessons, but my body was still feeling the effects of a chest injury I had given myself on race day (long story, but yes, it IS possible to strain one’s chest while running), so I decided to head down to Seattle a day early and join up with Ming and the gang there. Since this post has already become a novel and a half, I’ll write more about that one when I have another chance.

Thanks to Alice for being such a great host in Vancouver and for the great times we had! I loved getting the chance to catch up after so many years and enjoyed our inspiring conversations.

Bathroom Ettiquette

Ming's post inspired me to post this today since I've been thinking about it for a while...

Do women not understand the meaning of bathroom ettiquette?! I mean... we've all heard about the ettiquette that is used (read: enforced) in the men's washroom with the urinals... But don't women understand that a similar rule should also apply for our washrooms too? You have no idea how many times I will go into the bathroom at work, pick my "usual" stall to do my business, only to have someone else come in and choose to use the stall directly next to mine. Out of a choice of 8-10 stalls, does this not seem a bit unusual? I certainly think so. The next time you use the bathroom, consider the respect of your fellow bathroom-goers, and choose your stall accordingly :)

Hickeys

I really don't understand the purpose of hickeys. I mean, I realize the biology behind how they arise (yes... prolonged sucking of the skin will draw blood to the surface and cause redness and even bruising), but how on earth do they *really* happen? I've done the science experiment myself (and with the help of others) and it's pretty damn hard to get a hickey to the state of being a very large and obtrusive "love mark". It takes a LOT of work and focussed efforts for the sucking to have this dramatic end result.

Although I suppose it *is* possible for such creations to occur if one were extremely "in the moment", I can't help but wonder if hickies are actually instead the result of some weird branding ritual intended to make some sort of statement.

While working at the Running Room on Sunday, I had a university-aged couple come to try on shoes. After spending nearly an hour helping them to find the perfect shoe, I couldn't help but notice some very eye-catching red and purple welts on the guy's and girl's necks respectively. I used to think that only teenagers got hickeys and it was basically their silly way of rebelling and showing others (including their parents) that they had some steamy make-out session. Given the age of my recent customers though, my theory is now weakened.

I dunno... maybe I just haven't lived rebelliously enough in my day... But then again, maybe I just prefer to avoid the whole "diseased" look.

The Blues

Yeah... I got 'em. This sucks.

If anyone has a good remedy, please click here. Random stories are welcome. Anything that might bring a smile to my face.

Dryer lint

Got this forward from my grandma and thought I'd share it with the rest of the world. Probably the majority of my readers don't even own a dryer, but I figure it's one of those "useless pieces of knowledge" that might actually be useful to know for later on in life...

I had a wonderful morning, the heating unit went out of my dryer! Why does everything seem to fall apart this time of year!???

The guy that fixes things went in to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. We always clean the lint from the filter afterevery load of clothes. He told us that he wanted to show something. He took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. Now, this thing is like a mesh - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like - WELL......the hot water just laid on top of the mesh!!! It didn't go through it at all!!! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh and that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that???!!!! Learn something new everyday!

I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, thought I'd share!

Note: I went to dryer and tested my screen by running water on it. The water collected a little but ran though the screen. I dried it off and was ready to put it back in the dryer since the water ran through it but, I thought was the heck it won't hurt to wash it while I had it out. Warm soap water and a nylon brush and I had it done in 30 seconds. I then ran the water over the screen and what a difference the water just gushed through it with no puddling at all and this time I was running thre water at a faster rate. That repairman knew what he was talking about.

NOTE FROM ME.....Had to go try this myself....by golly, it was true! Water puddled and hardly went thru my 'clean' screen.....filled the sinkwith water/soap and brush brush brush and voila! Water straight thru.....think maybe those dryer sheets were invented by the Maytag guys just to finally give them some work?

Not sure who all those people were that did the experiment themselves, but it sounds like it's unanimous. This trick actually works! Happy laundering... :)

Mystery of the week

Does anyone recognize any of the following names?

Paul Robson
Jane Haque
Walter Jarsky
Jacque Beauvais
Jason Cook
Joe Balant
Judy Haddad
Cheryl Ibbotson
David Shanoff
Debbie Fleming
Doris Chen
Felix del Aguila
Gordon mahaffy
Helen Nolan
Jason Francoeur
Julie & Ronni Bates
Camilla Gryski
Casey Meng
Qiu Wang
Christos
Narcissist Design Co. & The Perfect T
Daniel Neysmith
David Room
David Keeble

My reason for asking: I received a very random email forward from a "Paul Robson" last night with a silly picture of a penguin standing on top of on a panda bear. My first reaction was that it was a virus, but I was pretty sure they couldn't be transmitted via jpgs. Totally puzzled by why my name was on his list of recipients, I googled him and found out that he's an economics graduate from UW. After responding to his email and politely asking him how on earth he might know me, he responded with "Sorry Heather, It's a mystery. I deleted you from my contact list."

Anyone who knows me will know that this is gonna drive me nuts until I figure out the connection (as I am certain there is one somehow, probably less than the cliche "6 degrees"). Anyone with any leads, please show me the light! This mystery CAN be solved!! :)

Funny Story

Oh my gosh! I almost forgot to post about this one!...

So the other day after my usual Monday evening run I was waiting patiently at a stop light (like all responsible drivers should) and drifting off in my own little dreamworld. When all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a little red Plymouth Colt turn the corner in front of me. This car caught my attention because it was the same one that an ex-boyfriend of mine used to drive. I thought... "no way... that can't be him... he can't still be in this city"... But sure enough, I caught a glimpse of the driver as it passed, and it was indeed, my "psycho ex" (the title comes from a very long story that you'll have to ask me about in person some day if you have any desire to learn more about it). I laughed aloud thinking about the strange encounter, and when the light turned gree, continued along my merry way wondering if I would ever run into him again.

Well, not more than a month later (last week), I was on my way to my first shift at the Running Room. Feeling totally ravenous from having not eaten much all day, I decided to stop at a gas station to pick up a quick snack on my way to work. And since I was coming directly from my brother's place, I happened to select a gas station I wouldn't normally pass by. As I entered the store I quickly scanned for the chip stand, grabbed a bag of Doritos (yummmy!) and headed to the cash. It was at that moment that I noticed the cashier making an overly obvious attempt to avoid eye contact with me. I looked at him and quickly realized, it was the psycho ex! I said hello and called him by his name and he almost tried to pretend like he didn't know me. But I continued the conversation and asked him what was new and all he could say was "umm.... I'm.... here...?" I asked him how his school was progressing or if he was done yet and he said something about finishing up this year. Since I was in a hurry, I wasn't able to talk longer, but I couldn't help but laugh as I walked out the door. For someone who was soooo confident and strong headed and egotistical while we were dating, I couldn't believe what I saw. What a weird encounter...

Am I a sick person if the only emotion this whole situation stirs up is laughter?

Catching up...

A huge congratulations to Trina on the completion of her first half marathon! Trina completed the Burlington Chilly Half a couple of weeks ago and finished with a time just over 2 hours. Way to go girl!! Congratulations also goes out to Mike (my Ericsson co-worker/roommate buddy from 3B) and Brenda on their recent engagement. I'm so happy for you two!

Career news: I am now officially a part-time employee of the Running Room in Waterloo. I applied a couple months back (before picking up my tutoring students), but last week I got called for an interview. Next thing I knew, I was on the staff list! It's been fun so far. 2 shifts under my belt and I'm schedule for an opening shift on my own next Sunday. Crazy stuff!

Marathon news: I was all set to brag about my exciting flight news (round trip tickets to Vancouver for $282 taxes included) when, much to my disappointment, I got the sad news of Jetsgo's closure (less than 2 weeks after I booked my flight with them). I was so pissed, but called my credit card company the morning I found out and filed my "grievence report". Supposedly I should be getting my money back the day after my flight is scheduled to depart. Thanks to my big brother Mark for feeling sorry for his poor sister and donating his
Air Miles points to my cause. I still have to pay $140 in flight taxes, but that's definitely the best deal around these days!

Motivational news: Saturday evening I met up with a friend to go climbing at Sportsworld. It's been years since I have been climbing (last time was probably with Ming and others in 2B), and I had forgotten how scary it was until I was half-way up my first wall. After a while though, I eased into it and remembered how much you can rely on the "safety" in the rope. The best part of the night was conquering climb after climb with a little coaxing from below. Just when I was ready to give up from sheer exhaustion in my arms and grip, a little shout from below convinced me to keep on going. It's such a cool feeling when you overcome something that you didn't think you could ever finish! Man... am I ever sore today though!...

Finally... if someone is looking for something really stupid but cute to cheer them up, check this out: www.it.dev.duke.edu/tmp/I_Like_You.swf

Welcome...

Welcome to Luc and Amanda who I have recently added to my blog list. You should check out their sites. Amanda and Luc are both up to very different things right now at this point in their lives, but their goals and ambitions are still nonetheless interesting and inspiring...

Work Funnies

The joy of working at a small company means random emails to the entire mailing list, some of which are pretty hilarious. Here's two from this week:

Subject: Car licence APLS 236
Message: You've left your lights on. You're ok for a while, though, because you also left your engine running. Dave
Response (to the entire company): Thanks Dave. These remote starters are neat, but you have to watch how you put your keys away :-)

Subject: Wrong keys
Message: I am hoping that someone on this distribution list would know the whereabouts of my keys. I hung my keys up shortly after 1pm in the gym and when I returned at 1:45 to fob out of the gym.... I realized my keys were gone. If someone would like to swap their keys for mine... preferably the person who currently owns my set of keys, please reply to me. I would like to have them before I go home.... so that I can go home :-)
Thanks, Mark

Backwards Reality

I can not believe how backwards our country (and government) views the current sporting/olympic "crisis". After reading a story on CBC.ca yesterday, I was floored to learn how Canada plans to get out of our performance slump at the Olympics and boost our medal count at the 2010 games. They think that funnelling a hole pile of money down a specific channel that targets only the top athletes will miraculously lead to a specific number of Gold, Silver, and Bronze Canadian performances at the Vancouver games 4 and a half years from now.

I don't think so...! I think the problem goes so much deeper and is tied to our generally lazy and unfit Canadian culture. Look at the physical education program in our elementary schools and think about how much changes in that area could have bigger and "grander" effects. By targeting the Canadian poplulation as a whole when they are young and at their most influencial phase of life, instilling a passion for (and even just the habit of) physical activity and sports can have a trickle effect and result in a much larger Olympic candidate pool to choose from. Sure this may take a lot more work (revamping the curriculum, changing views, making people do stuff they just don't want to have to do) and extra money. But forecasting the medal results at say, the 2020 Olympics, and even the financial rewards on our public healthcare system could speak wonders for this theory.

This "band-aid" approach is true in so much of life. The scary part is that it is simply a fact. With the sonic speed that life runs at today and the resulting pressures we endure, we fail to take the time to examine problems at the root. Instead we do whatever we can to find *a* solution and we suffer longer-term as a result.

Best deal in town!

So I've managed to pick up a couple of tutoring students this term. Both girls happen to be taking the same course, Grade 10 Academic, which is super convenient for me. After my first couple of sessions, I've realized just how much I'm cut out for this. I love helping them with their math! It gives me a fun challenge to re-teach myself what they are learning each week, and then try to think (on the spot) of a different way to explain it to them so they can see it, and better understand it, from a different angle.

I've discovered that I am a total sucker and these people are getting WAY more than their money's worth. For a measley $25-$30 these students are getting one-on-one sessions, for 1.25 - 1.5 hours, in their own homes, with yours truly. Given that the going rate in this city is $40/hour (and usually a very strict hour), I think I'm a steal. I wonder if I will ever actually end one of my sessions "on time"? :)