Nothing Like a New Wife to Cheer Me Up

I was on a tourism photo shoot yesterday at the exclusive Langdon Hall Country House and Spa; three couples enjoying a "getaway weekend together". This is the third tourism shoot I've done, the first was in Prince Edward County and the second in Niagara-on-the-Lake. For the first two I was paired up with a model named Ruth. However she seems to have been unavailable this time, so I had a new "wife" named Jacqueline. These shoots are good fun. Very relaxed, always a pleasant gourmet experience. I've been at Langdon Hall before, for the wedding of Sheryl's daughter. A highly recommended spot...

A funny thing happened when I arrived. As I was parking I saw a car that looked familiar. I set the thought aside though and made my way into our set-up room. Twenty minutes later, as I was telling the other models that I'd stayed at Langdon Hall before and was showing them a few of the wedding photos I had put on my iPhone, I got a call. It was Sheryl's daughter Tamara, so I immediately asked her to guess where I was. It turns out she was also back at Langdon Hall! She and her husband Dan were packing up to return to the city after a real weekend away. He had looked out their window and had been startled to see me crossing the lawn. Tamara didn't believe him and called me to find out where I was.

Art, as always, imitates life. A few weeks ago Sheryl told me that she wanted to stop dating. She had been recently complaining about my sports, been critical of my son, and had wondered aloud if I wouldn't be better off with a "sportier" girlfriend. Maybe she's right, although the days seem emptier without her... We've stayed on friendly terms.

Interviews are now available for qualified candidates!

Listening to: Touch to Remember by Jean Michel Jarre from Téo & Téa.

Where did I go?

Where did I go? To bed. I've been battle a nasty head cold and a bad cough for two weeks now! Yike. This photo is from a recent long run, which I've been trying to keep up in spite of my general illness. Now let's see if I can remember what's happened since my last post.

Sheryl's back from Australia with many entertaining anecdotes to impart, perhaps not so entertaining from her perspective... Overall she had a great trip, with lots of relations visited, her new granddaughter presented, and time spent with her daughter living in Sydney.

There have been two Formula One races, Spain and Turkey. In Spain the Ferrari's were one-two followed by Lewis Hamilton's McLaren. Hamilton's team mate Heikki Kovalainen had a massive high-speed crash that buried his car underneath the crash barrier, but he proved to be unharmed other than a minor concussion. In Turkey Massa's Ferrari triumphed, while Lewis Hamilton managed to stay just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Istanbul Park is a great track for overtaking, which made for a lot of great battles throughout the pack. A fun race.

Last weekend Chris and I went to see the new Hollywood blockbuster Iron Man. Kind of fun actually, which is a relief as these comic book properties can be terribly mishandled. I enjoyed Robert Downey Jr.'s performance a lot and the effects were excellent. Never mind that there's no way that funky metal suit could hold enough fuel to go more than ten meters...

Speaking of fantasy, I've finally come 'round on the Sci Fi TV series Battlestar Galactica. I wrote it off when it arrived, remembering the seventies version and linking "BSG" in my mind with the goofy Babylon Five series. But a friend's wife finally convinced me to give it a try, and I've used my recent downtime to watch the first two seasons almost back to back (thank you BitTorrent). Great writing, great performances. The effects are generally good, but I hate noisy space explosions and jet fighter-style spacecraft maneuvering. That part I just have to suck up. Lots of relevance to a post-9/11 Iraq War world too... I wonder if I'll catch up before the fourth and final season finishes.

So I'll close off, still hacking away, but planning a big cycling workout tomorrow followed by an overnight trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake with Sheryl.

Listening to: Again and Again by The Bird and the Bee from The Bird and the Bee. Check out the great viral Mac-lover's video for it on YouTube.

Boy, that was quick.

The Sprockets International Film Festival for Children has been and gone. I only volunteered for one theatre shift, although I worked several days before and after. It seemed to go by very quickly as a result. I still enjoyed the post-festival party at the Drake... I only saw a bit of one film, La Citadelle assiégée, a Canadian/French co-production about life within an African termite mound. Lots of interesting microphotography, but even the boys who I thought would love the scenes of inter-species combat were grossed out by it! A volunteer who watched most of the screening said she felt really itchy afterwards.

Sheryl's still in Australia visiting family, so keeping her little dog Barkley has been my main preoccupation. He's getting four walks a day to reduce the risk on indoor poops, which has been mostly successful. I've been keeping up my training, although sometimes it's a bit tricky. Last Wednesday I wanted to get to my triathlon club's Computrainer session but I was working, off and on, at The Shopping Channel all day. A slight last minute juggling of our air times gave me enough of a window to race back into town for the workout. I didn't even change out of my "on-air" gear and managed to forget my cell phone and wallet, but I got the session in! On the weekend I did a half marathon-distance training run, which was tough but satisfying. I need to get my aching calves looked at though, it feels like I might be verging on a shin splint.

Today was busy, two "go-sees" at opposite ends of town, a hope of getting a swim workout in between them, and a ticket for an afternoon screening at the Hot Docs documentary film festival. The first go-see was a really big call and I ran into a bunch of girls from my modeling agency so I had someone to chat with while I waited for the 50(!) people ahead of me to be seen. In the end I was called up ahead of schedule, which I think was a good sign. That shoot would entail two weeks in the Dominican Republic! I was still there much longer than anticipated, so the swim workout got dropped and I had to drive down to the Hot Docs screening rather than enjoy a bike ride there. Hot Docs isn't closely associated with the Toronto International Film Festival, but there were lots of TIFF acquaintances there anyway.

I'd bought my ticket for the screening of Cuban Song, which was being shown with Blood and Incense. Both documentaries had no narrative. Cuban Song was good, but I find those latin beats so fluid and relaxing that I often, well, fall asleep! Interesting footage, and they used six different performances of one song to tie the film together. The other film, Blood and Incense, was a surprise for me. It dealt with cock fighting in Bali, and used a fascinating blend of stills, video and freeze-frame stills to portray the Balinese ceremonies and cock fighting contests. Some pretty gruesome imagery, but the impressionistic way it was presented was very effective. Hot Docs goes on for the rest of the week, I might try to get to another screening.

Listening to: What A Day That Was by Talking Heads from Stop Making Sense.

Vacationing at home

It's the August long weekend here and yesterday Sheryl and I had a "vacation at home." We strolled over to the tennis courts and hit some balls back and forth for two hours. It was the first time I'd wielded a tennis racquet since my early twenties). We were eventually joined by Sheryl's daughter and son-in-law. They suggested that we join them for a swim, which entailed sneaking into the Sheraton Hotel's pool. This was executed smoothly, and was a great way to while away the afternoon... Afterward Sheryl and I drove over to Bloor Street to have a quick, cheap and delicious Salvadoran meal at Tacos el Asador in Koreatown.

Saturday night Sheryl and I saw Little Miss Sunshine, also with Sheryl's daughter and son-in-law. It was billed as a black comedy and pretty accurate. A great cast from top to bottom and a quirky plot about a dysfunctional and delusional family trying to get six year-old Olive to a beauty pageant. Very entertaining. Steve Carell's subdued performance was particularly surprising and Alan Arkin was as crusty as you could want.

I also got an update about Chris' camp experience on Saturday. Unfortunately it came in the form of a report from the camp that he'd been involved in a fight! It appears that he was defending himself, but it was pretty distressing to hear about. If he's involved again he'll be sent home by the camp... He talked to his mother afterward, and he'll be coming home for a day with me this weekend during "changeover", the weekend between the two-week sessions.

Turning to the racing world, a local power outage confounded my attempt to record the Hungarian Grand Prix. Too bad, because it was apparently an eventful race! Kimi Raikkonen started on the pole in his McLaren, while Michael Schumacher's Ferrari and Fernando Alonso's Renault were both well down to order owing to penalties. Jenson Button also started well down because of an engine change during qualifying. The race started under wet conditions and got wetter. Alonso managed to get past Schumacher and even lapped him, but Kimi stayed well out in front. Schumacher also lost his front wing in a tangle with Alonso's teammate. Unfortunately Kimi crashed into a backmarker on lap 26 and was out of the race. At this point the Hungaroring track began drying out. Alonso then led strongly until his right rear wheel failed after a pitstop on lap 52. The changing conditions allowed Michael Schumacher to come back into contention and for Jenson Button to fight his way into the lead, where he remained comfortably until the finish, his first win after 113 races. Michael faded again though and crashed out on the second last lap. Kimi's McLaren teammate Pedro De La Rosa finished second while Nick Heidfeld was third in his BMW Sauber. Wish I'd seen it!

Listening to: In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry from In the Summertime.

My really-bad, no-good, horrible weekend

What a weekend! Sheryl and I drove up to Parry Sound on Friday for my triathlon race on Saturday. In the course of Friday I;

1. Got a $30 parking ticket,
2. Got a flat tire while going on a test ride outside of Parry Sound and spent an hour and $60 fixing it,
3. Got the call from the head-hunter telling me I didn't get that promising job.

Saturday morning at our bed & breakfast I was briefly awakened by heavy rain at 5:00 AM. Not a promising start to this day either. When I woke at 7:00 it was back to sunny skies, but by the time the triathlon was to start it was raining again, torrentially, with lightning. In the end the race was postponed to the next day for those that could stay on (not me). As a consolation a 10K run was held an hour after the original triathlon start time. My time was a middling 47:20 (literally, as I was 19 out of 48) with a pace of 4:44 m/km. But my shoes were soggy and the trail, pretty as it was, had some serious puddles! The top three runners were a full minute faster per kilometer...

Sheryl was an excellent sport about it all, keeping me company under a beach shelter during the rain and waiting in the car for me to finish the run and recover. As we drove back into Toronto the skies opened up again. Not a problem in a nice cozy car! We did enjoy Parry Sound on Friday night though, so the trip wasn't a complete write-off.

Now I'm home and getting Chris packed for a month at camp. Sheryl and I engraved his name on his new canoe paddle before she left for her place and he has now arrived from his mother's. He leaves Sunday morning at 11:00 AM. It's going to be a bit lonely without him around...

Listening to: Hourglass by Squeeze from The Best Of Squeeze.

Sure is busy, doing nuthin'

So busy lately! Plenty to blog about, but no time to do it... Last week was spent mostly fighting off a bug of some sort. Made it hard to savor my "accomplishments" in the Toronto Waterfront Triathlon, but I tried. I also had to make time for a promising job interview and plenty of running around helping Sheryl get ready for her annual summer Aussie BBQ. The BBQ came off last Sunday without a hitch, under a beautiful evening sky after a stormy afternoon. Once again I was in charge of music, with the added task of manning the grill (all night!). As requested I put together a playlist of Aussie rock, this time with some Reggae, Motown and Beach Boys thrown in. Last year I borrowed my company's PA system, this time I had to rent the equivalent which only turned out to cost $40. The tunes came out of my iPod nano, which made for a hilariously easy setup.

With my next triathlon looming Saturday morning this week I've tried to get some workouts in but have had to balance them with continuing to fight off this bug. Nearly there... I've also been busy getting Chris ready for a month at summer camp. Lots of old clothes to replace, water shoes to track down, his own canoe paddle to be fitted and bought, etc. I've also been in for a second interview for that job and have tried to catch up with Sheryl. Last night we saw An Inconvenient Truth, today we lingered over a coffee outside of Pusateri's. At Pusateri's we had a constant stream of conversations from acquaintances passing by or strangers captivated by Sheryl's dog Barkley. He's a very cute and curly little Poodle-Bichon Frise cross.

Listening to: Yeh Yeh by Matt Bianco from Matt Bianco.

The Mythical Man-Month

Ah yes, the mythical man-month. This is the belief that a project can be completed twice as fast by assigning twice as many staff to it. Generally speaking this is wrong, wrong, wrong. Beyond a certain point adding staff decreases productivity because of the spiraling effort required to communicate and coordinate.

This comes to mind today because I see a technology blogger has called Bill Gates out with a $10,000 bet over his recent statement that the next version of Windows, now called Vista but once know as Longhorn, has an 80% chance of shipping by January 2007. Vista was originally supposed to ship in late 2002 and a large number of core features have been dropped...

In my own life Sheryl and I enjoyed a $35 Summerlicious dinner at Thuet on Wednesday. All I can say is wow! Tonight we're going to Era Ora, which is just around the corner from Sheryl's place. I also ran across this remarkable excerpt in the Globe & Mail's morning obituaries:

July 14, 1911
An estimated 300 people died when a huge forest fire swept through the Porcupine area near Timmins, Ont. The blaze was fanned by high winds until it became a fast-moving 40-kilometre front. In places men in mining camps who heard it approaching escaped only by running as fast as their strength allowed for a lake or river. Some who made it to safety arrived with clothes burned off their backs. Hundreds of people in settlements who also went to the lakes were drowned, pushed into deep waters by the crush of late arrivals. A young bank clerk who had conscientiously emptied the vaults before running to the lake guarded the cash throughout the night with a loaded revolver, alone in an open canoe. The fire left more than 3,000 people homeless and destroyed 2,200 square kilometres of forest, taking with it the mining communities of South Porcupine, Cochrane and Goldlands.

The Toronto International Film Festival is also approaching. I spent Wednesday and Thursday evenings helping at the recruiting sessions down at Roy Thompson Hall. Why not join us? Check out the volunteering opportunities here.

Listening to: So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry) by R.E.M. from Reckoning.

Bang!

Sheryl and I watched the World Cup final this afternoon at my friend Brian's house. We were cheering for France (whose coach is the spitting image of Peter Sellers) after Italy's unfair victory over Australia. As everyone knows it ended in a tie in spite of a ballet of Italians clutching their ankles and was settled by penalty kicks, which Italy won. Humbug. We did have the pleasure of watching France's team captain Zidane head butt a notorious Italian player though! :-) It was a foolish reaction of course, and possibly a fatal blow to France's chances. I wonder if we'll ever know if or how Zidane was goaded into it.

Immediately after the soccer, to the sounds of reveling Italians which lasted long into the night, we watched last weekend's United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Speedway. The Ferraris of Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa were on the pole, a good second faster than everyone else. The Renaults that have been generally dominant this year started back in third and fifth. The first lap was filled with incident; two separate accidents took seven cars out of the running, including a triple flip for Nick Heidfeld's Sauber. Unfortunately the main collision was triggered by Juan Pablo Montoya running into the back of his McLaren team-mate Kimi Raikkonen.

Although there was no repeat of last year's farce of a six car race (because of tire safety concerns) there were still only nine cars running at the finish. Pretty high attrition! Although Massa got ahead of Schumacher early he was in his "proper place" well before the end. Alonso never really got his car under him, and was only able to hold his fifth place starting position while his team-mate did the same to finish third.

The last bit of TV for the night was watching the 2004 French documentary The World According to Bush in Newsworld's Passionate Eye time slot. Very disheartening, especially considering the misplaced hope it held out for the 2005 election. I'd forgotten that George W. didn't even have a passport until he was elected President!

Listening to: Fell On Black Days by Soundgarden from Superunknown.

Home again, via NYC

Read the first half of my trip here. With work and visit completed in Woodstock, we prepared to drive back to Toronto. But New York City was calling. My brother had the key to a friend's apartment in a "transitional" part of Brooklyn... Could we do it? Yes.

Sunday morning we drove south instead of north, Google Earth instructions once again in hand, and were unpacked by 1:00PM. Straight back out and over the Brooklyn Bridge for a whirlwind tour though. The parking gods were smiling upon us, because we rarely had trouble finding convenient cheap parking as we hopped around town. First stop was on the Avenue of the Americas in the West Village, where we did a bit of window shopping and strolled past my brother's first apartment on West Tenth. A pint of Magic Hat beer each at Bar 6 restored us and it was up Broadway to the Upper East Side. We stopped at Henri Bendel where Sheryl had some important purchases to make and we chanced upon their beautiful Lalique windows. We also ran into a Toronto acquaintance of hers... Small world. Next was a pleasant stroll in Central Park, pretzels in hand, past the Boathouse and the Boat Pond. The usual assortment of NYC characters and wacky tourists were in place. For a dollar we could have had a telescope view of a nesting pair of falcons high above Fifth Avenue. Back in the car and down Fifth Avenue with a loop around Saks while Sheryl ran in to get a snow globe (don't ask...) and then further down to Soho, where we had another restful interlude dining at the Mercer Kitchen. We drove "home" through Battery Park so Sheryl could get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty.

That was our day, except for some distress over a "lost" Dean & Delucca shopping bag that contained our breakfast for the next day and my digital camera. The camera turned up in Sheryl's handbag and breakfast was in the trunk of our car! I guess you can't put that many miles and events in without some sort of brain slip.

Monday morning we packed up early and headed out to buy breakfast in another neighbourhood my brother had lived in that I had fond memories of - Brooklyn Heights. The weather was nice, so we lingered for a few minutes more on the Promenade where we got a great view of the Hudson River and Manhattan skyline. Minus the Twin Towers this trip...

Then it was back north to Woodstock to drop off the keys at my brother's place and head directly home. We arrived in Toronto twelve hours after departing Brooklyn having listened to five hours of The Measure of All Things on audio CD and passed a traffic fatality on the I-90.

This afternoon I took Chris to a matinee of Cars, which I have to say was a pleasant way to pass the time. The usual Pixar technical skill and humour were in place, as was a straight-forward sentimental plot, and as usual the credits contained the best stuff (drive-in theatre clips of Toy Story, A Bug's Life and Monsters, Inc. as enacted by... cars). Given my interest in Formula One racing we both got a kick out of Michael Schumacher's voice cameo. Having just traversed a serious stretch of Interstate highway and also seen life on the side roads, Cars also felt like a thoughtful essay on the small town life that 'progress' has passed by.

Listening to: Route 66 by John Mayer from Cars Original Soundtrack.

There and Back Again

It's been a bit quiet "here" because last week I drove down to my brother's place for a few days and, well, plenty of things happened...

I started full of confidence with Sheryl as my navigator and a nice Google Earth print-out of my route in hand. I'd heard about the heavy rains in Pennsylvannia but I didn't think it would affect me. Wrong! Although we had sunny dry weather for the entire trip I spent 3 1/2 hours going 15 miles along the I-90 just west of Utica because of flooding miles ahead. I was desperate to get off and fuel up, because we were down to an 1/8th of a tank (moments before hitting the traffic jam I'd said "getting low. Let's fill up at the next exit." People were strolling between lanes, spreading out maps on their cars, chatting...

We finally crept off the highway, just as the low fuel light came on, tanked up and got a real New York road map. We made some good headway traveling south to an alternate route east but guess what? The same flooding, this time including an overpass that had collapsed, killing two truck drivers, led us onto a detour along farm roads that took another ninety minutes and left us heading back where we came from.

Eventually an empty road beckoned to us and we headed off on our own detour. This took us quite a way south before we again encountered flooding. This time we had to pick our way across flooded roads and almost-submerged bridges. With nightfall approaching we checked our new map and decided to check into a motel in Cooperstown. What a funny little place! It's a very pretty and well preserved example of small-town America and totally devoted to baseball. Its where the bats come from, and the home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum... Sheryl saw the restored main street and got a shopper's glint in her eye only to be disappointed by the uniformly baseball-oriented shops.

After a sociable breakfast the next morning at the Cooperstown Diner (which I later discovered is Bill Bryson's pick for the "ideal diner in the ideal small town") we made our way uneventfully to Woodstock, where we got last-minute cell phone instructions to divert to my sister-in-law's new office where I was to help get their computers set up.

And this story is going to have to "be continued"...

Listening to: A Fine Day for a Parade by Fountains of Wayne from Utopia Parkway.

Blogging in my sleep

Last night I dreamt I was blogging! I had a dream in which I was eager to offer a strongly-held opinion about something I had no expertise in. Sounds like blogging to me... In the dream I was at a meeting of outdoor market vendors. Sheryl was one of the vendors, but it was I who was eager to address the gathering about how they urgently needed convince the market owners to install more water taps so they could improve their shops. Ah, dreams... I was awakened by chirping robins (at 4:00 AM) before I could clear my virtual throat.

On the topic of early starts, much like another blogging triathlete, I love the sights and sounds of the early dawn. I just wish they could be observed in the afternoon. But I'm off for a group ride regardless.

Listening to: It's Alright for You by The Police from Reggatta de Blanc.

Itchy Feet

Summer's coming and I'm getting the itch to visit wild places. It's been almost ten years since I've been in the mountains! For a geologist, this can get painful... This morning I found a photo of Lake O'Hara, from a 1997 vacation in the Rocky Mountains. (Click on it to see the full-size version.) Perhaps I'll get down to see my brother in the Catskills this summer.

Sheryl flew to Australia on Tuesday, she'll be back in three weeks. Maybe this has helped trigger my wanderlust. In the meantime Chris and I are dog-sitting again and following the Edmonton Oilers' trip to the Stanley Cup. (Toronto didn't even make the playoffs and my favourites, the Ottawa Senators, were stopped by Buffalo in the first round.)

Listening to: Sand in My Shoes by Dido from Life for Rent.

Ride or die

I was up at 6:30 AM today to walk Sheryl's dog (whom I'm babysitting while she's in New York for the weekend) and then go on my first serious group ride. The triathlon club met at the intersection of Elgin Mills and Woodbine, way up in Richmond Hill, for an 8:00 AM start. I packed my mountain bike into my trunk and tied it down, getting there just in time for the start.

It was a cold, windy morning. I was well dressed for the conditions as it turned out, other than wishing I had full finger cycling gloves. I kept up pretty well with the experienced riders for about the first 10 km but the remaining 50 km were gruelling, especially in the gusting winds. It seemed that we were riding into a head wind the whole way, even though we did a large loop! There's no way around it, if I want to get a fair return on my exertion I'll have to get a 'real' bike.

Listening to: You Showed Me by The Lightning Seeds from Dizzy Heights.

The Life of... Kevin

Sheryl's job with the Lord of the Rings producers (Kevin and his partner William) has come to an end. They're returning to London today to start preparing for the West End production. Andrew Lloyd Webber is going to present it in his premier theatre. Now we're both looking for jobs...

I celebrated her "job well done" by taking her out to Yamato, a Japanese restaurant in Yorkville, where we had a fun teppanyaki dinner.

It's kind of a sad milestone for Sheryl though because she had become very fond of "her boys". For me, there's an up side. Now she'll have the energy and the interest to do more interesting cooking at her place. Today I woke up to a lovely three-cheese omelet with a side dish of papaya slices.

Listening to: Anything by Kinnie Starr from Anything.

Big Day Out

Sunday I watched a parade, watched a car race, went to a first communion party and then a birthday party... Phew.

The parade was serendipitous. Sheryl and I took Barkley out for a morning walk and I suggested that we go further afield. When we got down to Queen's Park we found the roads all closed for what turned out to be a Police Memorial parade. Many speeches were made, police officers in full-dress uniform stood at attention, gun fire salutes were made (that frightened Barkley), then they re-formed and marched past the Lieutenant Governor while bagpipes played (which also frightened Barkley). I wish I'd brought my camera, but I did take a few cell phone snaps of the flower beds. The "march" turned out to be only two blocks long...

Next stop was my friend's house to watch that morning's Formula One race, the European Grand Prix from Germany's Nurburgring race track. Fernando Alonso started on pole in his Renault with Michael Schumacher's Ferrari beside him. He managed to keep Michael at bay until the second pitstop, when Michael had enough fuel to stay out three laps longer and hence build a gap before he had to pit as well. Not much else to say about it other than Kimi Raikkonen's McLaren looked competitive again. Rookie Nico Rosberg made a good impression, taking his Williams from 22nd to 7th.

The race finished just in time to join Sheryl at a party her friends were having to celebrate their eight year-old daughter's first communion. Sheryl had made a cupcake tower for the occasion. Colin and Mary-Jo live in a very modern just-finished house of about 6,000 sq. ft. I expect to see their incredible home in a magazine layout very soon. Seriously.

Last stop of the day was Sheryl's daughter's home, where she was having a small dinner to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday. Gourmet pizza and then - more cupcakes!

Listening to: Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous by Good Charlotte from The Young and the Hopeless.

Too much information?

Here's a post for the squeamish to pass over...

Sheryl was talking about pedicures yesterday, so I told her how I look after my feet. Aside from trimming toe nails my main issue is callouses on the outside of my heels. After years of experimentation the above object is what I have concluded works best. A carpenter's rasp!

No, it's doesn't hurt. Yes, it lives in my medicine cabinet.

Listening to: Steady As She Goes by The Raconteurs from Steady As She Goes - CD Single.

The Cat's Away...

Sheryl's job with the Lord of the Rings producers is winding down as they prepare to return to London and plan the West End production. In fact they are both back in England for the week right now. The pool has been cleaned and 'opened' though and the weather has been so nice that, well...

We've kind of moved in during their absence.

With their permission of course! Actually we've just been preparing our dinner in their kitchen and enjoying it on their patio. But tonight and tomorrow night Sheryl's going to have a few friends over to enjoy it with us. Ahh, the good life.

Postscript: Sunday night was the close of the Sprockets Children's Film Festival, so all the staff and volunteers gathered at the hip Drake Hotel to drink ourselves under the table. We had the roof-top patio set aside for us and fortunately I'd had several "Sprocket Rockets" (think raspberry-flavoured vodka) before I managed to get my middle finger caught in a closing bathroom door. I don't think I'm going to lose the nail...

One final bit of Sprockets news. Last Friday I was Volunteer Captain for the the screening of Emmanuel's Gift at Theatre D. Emmanuel's Gift is a documentary about a young Ghanaian man born with a deformed leg. He received a bicycle and crossed Ghana with it, raising the profile of disabled people there. A lot of wonderful things flowed from that, including this Oprah Winfrey-narrated film. Emmanuel, now an adult and family man, was in Toronto for the screening and he made an amazing connection with the children in the audience.

Listening to: Make It Mine by The Shamen from En-Tact.

Thank You for...

Chris and I saw Thank You For Smoking this evening. Chris wanted to see it and I was happy to inoculate him against smoking a little bit. Talk about a biting satire! The plot, as much about lobbying as it was about Big Tobacco, kept twisting in delicious ways right up to the final frame. Aaron Eckhart (who?) had the smarmy lobbyist down pat - "If you argue right, you are right." Great performances too by William H. Macy as a crusading anti-tobacco Senator and Rob Lowe as an amoral Hollywood agent (as opposed to?).

I went on another crazy 40 km bike ride along the Don again this afternoon. I rode down to have a coffee with Sheryl while Chris vegetated in front of the computer and the weather was so nice that I just couldn't help myself. I still need to get my bike's chain cleaned and some better pants... Chris got his exercise, such as it was, walking to and from the theatre with me. That was about 20 blocks each way.

Coming out of the film I noticed that Sheryl had texted me. I called her and she gave me mysterious directions to look in today's National Post. Her daughter's photo was on their society page belatedly covering the Lord of the Rings gala party! "Hobbits and hotties get it on after Mirvish's LOTR premiere." I don't dispute that she's a "hottie" but her husband is no Hobbit, standing 6'4".

Listening to: In Between Days by The Cure from The Head on the Door.

The Quiet Earth

It was a lovely spring day today and I had a 9:00 AM meeting about the Sprockets children's film festival. I decided to get there on my mountain bike so I could get a few kilometers of open road under me. I thought I'd take a fifteen minute bike up to the theatre, then scoot back home or join Sheryl for a bite before helping her with a business project she had to finish. The ride up was a bit cool, but sunny with very quiet streets.

I'm a slow starter on weekend mornings whenever possible, so the early morning lack of hustle and bustle can be a bit of a surprise to me. It reminded me a tiny bit of a 1985 New Zealand film call The Quiet Earth, in which everyone has instantly vanished, except those in the process of dying. A great psychological drama with lots of spooky scenes of silent, empty cities with the "sole survivor" wandering around trying to piece things together.

In the end my planning meeting was over faster than expected, Sheryl was delayed and the weather was even more enticing. I decided to take a serendipitous route home and ended up on the paths the follow the Don River. I just kept going until Sheryl called to say she was ready. I rode over 40 km! (So sayeth Google Earth's Measure tool.) Next time I'm not going to wear tight, stuffy blue jeans. And I'm going to get my rusty bike chain oiled.

In other news, Chris' team lost their hockey championship game 5 - 0 yesterday. As is always said in such situations, getting to the finals was a victory in itself. They were second last in the season standings but played their hearts out in the playoffs. They were just out-gunned on the day. Chris played as well as I've seen him though, so I was a proud Dad.

Also, last night while Sheryl and I watched a mediocre black comedy about a mob lawyer scamming his boss (The Ice Harvest) the news broke that eight Toronto-area 'Bandito' bike gang members had been murdered on a farm west of the city. Of course these guys are all just businessmen who share an interest in motorcycles...

Listening to: Little Fluffy Clouds by The Orb from Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.

Sorry, I was just Googling

I was having a late-night talk with Sheryl and slowly dropping off to sleep last night. She accused me of being asleep, so that became our topic. Even when I'm almost asleep I can summarise the last thing said to me. It's like I have a 15 second tape loop in my head for defensive purposes.

I explained that when I'm tired I don't zone out of the conversation (as I was being accused). Instead I go into a kind of free-association state where I hear the other person and I'm aware of the thread, but follow paths of thought that branch off from the topic. So if I'm dozing off while talking about a friend's relationships I might start thinking about a business idea he mentioned a while ago, or a different friend's situation. It's not as good as staying focused on the actual conversation, but it's not a sign that I'm ignoring it...

Sheryl said "So you're Googling in your head." I guess she's right. We all know how Google searches can bring up strange matches. Maybe my mind just clicks "I'm Feeling Lucky" when it's tired.

Listening to: The Reasons by The Weakerthans from Reconstruction Site.