Jack of All Tirades

Eat, drink and go camping

2010-08-02T08:09:00.002-04:00

Vacation time!! Two weeks of unwinding.

Deb finished up last years video of our camping trip in The Park (Algonquin) which should be fun to watch tonight as part of our pre-outing dinner. I got to take a look at it.....I have to tell you, some parts look prime for YouTube or FailBlog.

Yesterday was the annual horseshoe tourney (I did not partake) but a huge number of people were there....biggest draw yet. Good pot luck dinner to end the day too.

Today we get the cats and bring them up to the cottage. We'll also be prepping for this years camping trip (I'm doing an Orange/Tarragon chicken breast, Stuffed Beef Tenderloin, and a Stuffed Pork Tenderloin for our dinners). Miles says we don't go camping....we go eating.

Made an cocktail up yesterday afternoon to beat the heat..
1 ounce Appleton rum
1/2 ounce coconut rum
3 ounces pineapple juice
Top up with soda water and ice and a twist of lime

I'm sure I must have seen this somewhere before - can't remember exactly.

As we're on dial-up - pictures are going to have to wait til we get back.

"But, if you never take time, how can you ever have time."

2010-07-12T19:11:00.010-04:00

After an insanely busy week at work,l it was nice to be able to unwind over the weekend. A weekend that started off with a great BBQ at Dave & Elaine's. Ordinarily, I don't feel comfortable at large get togethers, but I really felt at home that night. Thanks for putting on the dinner - I think it meant a lot.

It was fun and if it weren't for the work being done at the cottage, we would have stayed later. Great times - we really have to try and do some things like that again. Even on a small scale.

Saturday was spent poking away at whatever was needed. I wasn't intending to do any serious work, but I started on a little garden shed and I guess I got right into it. Oh, by the way, pounding nails into dried 2x6 hemlock might be a great work out for the arm, but not so much for the hardware. There were a handful of nails that bent rather than be hammered in (3" galvanized at that) and I broke the head off the hammer I was using. So I opted for my 3lb sledge to finish the job so there were less.....disagreements. Take a look at what the shed was sitting in - maybe it was originally meant to be an ark.

My friend Darryl was up to put the finishing touches on the power to the shed (got a whole new panel in there now) and no more power problems in the cottage itself. Ahhhhhhhh.

Satruday night was a hoot - we had a lot of fun and stayed up a long time. Deb had a great idea to put a bargain chandelier in the gazebo (just a plain matte black 5 arm single bulb thingy) but does it ever do the trick. We must have been out there for hours and I whipped up a few improvised drinks over the course of the evening. I really got stock up for the holidays.

So, now we are looking at our dwindling summer weekends and wondering how much we can squeeze out of them. It seems that there is never enough time to do the important stuff, work always gets in the way.

Finally back on -

2010-07-08T21:52:00.003-04:00

I was going to rant about my battles with technology (having to fix our home network and the ERP launch at work) but instead, I'll move on to more important things.

Onyx (our newly adopted cat) is fitting in quite well. It looks like Stitches (our "fraidy" cat) is warming up to him. Jezebel is another story.....(there's a reason she earned that name). They'll get it sorted out - they eat together, sleep in the same room....there may be the odd slap-fight, but nothing serious.

The canoe gets a tour on the lake for the first time this year, this weekend. Because, for the first time this year - I won't be doing any construction. YAY for ME.

We are getting a new electrical panel put in at the cottage. Sort of got tired of using the old one as a secondary heat source.

The big launch to the weekend is a bbq with the gang on Friday - looking forward to that.

Resetting....

2010-07-01T15:57:00.004-04:00

Yesterday's sevice for Wendy was nice.

After a week of running on auto-pilot trying to grasp that one of "our gang" was gone it felt good to be part of the huge number of people that came out to pay their respects. Being able to share stories was great, being able to re-connect with old friends was even better.

Wendy had so many varied interests, she was able to open channels for people who might not have connected, otherwise. Putting the odd small comment on a pic or a post just to let you know she was there turns out to have been a big deal for me now.

I go through a lot of blogs my friends have as links, but rarely post anything. That needs to change.

So - I think I am going to try getting serious about updating this blog, making sure all my contact info is up to date in my email and phone. And I am going to try and use the internet as well as Wendy did.....she pretty much set the bar.

Under Construction

2008-02-18T15:58:00.006-05:00

Well, the work in the shop is progressing - thanks to a bad cold, not quite as quickly as I would have hoped.

The strips have been going on nicely, but to get a nice colour balance at the bottom, I've had to play around with some of the strips. Nothing major, but I had to use a couple of old strips to get a nice solid dark cedar in the middle of the canoe. The alternative would have been an inconsistent light/dark blend which I wasn't crazy about.

So, I've built up all one side of the canoe bottom. Next step is to trim off the excess and finish it down to the center line. It's a good thing I put the basswood strip in where I did. The curves to the center get more pronounced as you move in and it was a wrestling match just to get that in.

The old strips I found were as hard as a rock - they had been around for years. It took a pile of clamps and bungees to keep it in place. But the end result should be beautiful.

There is still a pile of work to be done and I'm probably going to be hard pressed to get this finished before May.

Colour me boring

2008-01-28T10:26:00.000-05:00

Hmm - not exactly exciting, but....

You are most like: Black
You are bold with a dark side. You make clear lines wherever you go, though you color outside of the lines. Many people may just see the surface of you and think you are merely plain, but you have a lot of depth to you as well.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

You are most like:

Black

You are bold with a dark side. You make clear lines wherever you go, though you color outside of the lines. Many people may just see the surface of you and think you are merely plain, but you have a lot of depth to you as well.

Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?

Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

Ok - so it's not exactly Lego

2008-01-20T15:11:00.000-05:00

So, I've been able to spend more time in the shop with the canoe, and it had been going extremely well up until this week.

The wood I am using is of extremely good quality and the work I put into the forms and strongback have made putting the first few strips on, very easy.

I have a bright basswood accent strip set in between some dark cedar. Once the finish is on, it should come up quite nicely.

This part of the caone is relatively flat, so the strips went on very quickly. Once the first strip is on (the bottom most one in this picture) and perfectly level, it is like putting siding on. A bead of glue in the cove, center the strip on the boat and tack it in to the forms with a finishing nail (just to hold it in place while the glue dries).

But as you get to the "curvy bits", getting the strips to stay snug to the form becomes a little more difficult.

After laying a couple of stips each side, I came back to the shop the next day to see that the boards had come away from the form (despite me securing them with bungee cords while the glue dried). Apparently, this is not uncommon and probably could be avoided if one used narrow strips.

You can see that the form (well used now and is probably having trouble keeping the brad nail from moving around) is about almost a quarter inch from the strip - and this would get progressively worse.

So, off to the web to find some solutions. Al had told me to use a clamping system with wedges that would force the boards into place.

This is the best solution and some forums have also said using a heat gun on the strip before placing it in, leaves it a bit more pliable.

I boiled some water and saturated the wood to get a little more give in it before putting the clamps on. Seems to have worked.

This is going to be slow going for the next few days, but it should work. There is going to be plenty of sanding and "improvisational" carpentry before the fiberglass goes on.

There are systems that allow you to create a cedar strip using only clamps. This way you don't get the small nail holes in the wood. But, I'm guessing that those are a little more advanced than what I'm ready for right now.

A Long Winter

2008-01-20T14:50:00.000-05:00

December was extremely long, even though the daylight wasn't.

The second round of layoffs at the plant hit, and I, along with 42 others, were part of the exodus. Probably the kick in the ass I needed to get on with my professional life - I hadn't been able to execute many of the plans I had in place and frustration was getting the better part of me. I was more concerned for the people who were left as the workload wasn't going to diminish any.

There were a lot of "goodbyes" to be said after 12 years, it was going to be the people I miss the most. Last week, yet another round of 30 people were let go. By March, the place is going to be a pale ghost of the plant that used to be the jewel in the crown for Zomax during the last 10 years.

I should be able to complete my CPIM designation by next fall and, in the interim (if I can get the study materials and exams scheduled), get my CSCP designation before spring. I think I am going to take a little time before I get seriously looking for the right position. There have been a few postings I've applied for and my resume seems to be getting noticed on the job websites.

Hopefully, I'll be able to help some of the folks out who have been let go in that last round. I still have a few contacts in the valley. I'm probably in a lot better position than most.

The last week was the first week out of work - and man did it drag on. Even trying to keep a routine going (applications, gym, canoe, housework) it felt like the days went on forever. This will probably change once I get accustomed to it, but to go from the fast pace of work to a slow crawl is very hard.

Fit, Form and Function

2007-11-24T11:56:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday I set up the bow and stern forms and aligned them to the strong back center line with a string. Some things sound deceptively easy when you are writing - it took me at least 4 hours to get this perfect. The idea is to have a perfectly square set forms in all x, y and z axes.

These look like two dimensional mushrooms from this angle, but these forms are what I will be pinning my cedar strips to. The string (which I'm not sure you can see) runs from end to end about an inch above the tops of the forms. Each form has a center line that you need to align to the string and the center line on the strongback - this makes it square in all direction once you screw it into the station block that were put on earlier.

If you look at it from a slightly different angle, it starts to look a little more like a canoe.

Aligning and squaring these took a few extra hands and eyes - you start to see things after a while.

On the fitness front - it was a sorry state of will power this week. I got out to the gym only twice (once for a cardio workout and once for weights) and I only played one game of hockey. The league game this week was late (10:30pm) and a combination of the weather outside and the nice fireplace inside resulted in an instinctive decision.

I'm digging out an old work out routine to mix things up a bit - changing the workout routine every now and then helps.

MoviePix is running a Bond film marathon this week. Some of these bring back memories of the gang going to see these on a Saturday night at the Somerset. Man, some of these are so cheesy when you look back and scenes obviously stolen from previous movies, you'd think they'd never cleaned off the story board.

Casino Royale is on tonight and I have to say I like the grittier, darker bond films - s it's going to be a toss up between Bond or BSG "Razor" .

...and now....the Larch...

2007-11-16T19:01:00.000-05:00

Stealing the title from the Monty Python skit seems appropriate. A lot of work went into leveling the strongback....and it doesn't look that much different.

You've seen it before - now here it is perfectly level. (Ooooh and Aaaah at your leisure)

And here it is with a bunch of sticks on it - oh, the craftsmanship!

I am certainly hoping that this weekend gets to be a little more substantial as far as progress.

Al and Ez put on a new coat of varnish on Ezzie's "Redbird".

In the rink -

We had a break last week. A lot of the guys are out on the hunt, sounds like a good year so far.

I had 3 starts in net and won all 3, although there is plenty of room for improvement. A couple of late mistakes in the last game made it more interesting than it needed to be.

The most unpleasant outing I had in nets was this past week. I made all the saves off the first shots, but the rebounds were terrible. All the follow up shots I would get a piece of, but not enough to make the save (this becomes extremely aggravating). It was like that all night.

My league game last night still haunts me. I got the first goal on a decent enough backhand, but the puck was bouncing on everyone during the game. Transitioning from goal to wing is a bit of a challenge. Towards the end of the game, I was fed a beautiful pass that I couldn't (or didn't) adjust to fast enough to get a one time shot off. Instead, I took it in the skates and tried to set up off the kick up (yeah - didn't work so good).

Keeping up at the gym is helping quite a bit. I am usually able to keep my acceleration and speed up throughout the game, which is a good compensation for my lack-of-skill level.

Bends and Boxes

2007-11-03T11:33:00.000-04:00

Puttering away in the woodshop is fun. The pace is a lot slower than work and it requires a great attention to detail - which suits me just fine.

So far, the stems have been crudely constructed and need some planing/finishing before being secured to the strongback forms. A couple of days after the pieces were steamed and clamped, they were taken apart and a laminated together using epoxy. Each of the bonding sides gets 1 coat of the epoxy and another coat of epoxy blended with a filler (Carbosil I beleive was the name). The blended epoxy is also coloured with fine sawdust of the same wood you are bonding (ie walnut or cedar in this case).

The walnut laminate is going to be on the outside of the canoe, the cedar on the inside. In this picture there is a layer of wax paper separating each set so they don't bond together. They need to be clamped together on the form to maintain their shape. When they are paired up during the building process, they are going to need to match perfectly. They'll stay clamped together for about a week which will ensure they do not spread (as would be there natural tendency).

The next step is to prepare the strongback, which will need to be perfectly level and square in all planes. The better it is set up, the fewer "adjustments" need to be made later on. It's like the foundation of a house - so it may take a few days to get it set up right.

This strongback is on loan from a fellow canoe-builder, Peter. It's in very good shape and the only thing I've had to do, so far, is to flip the plywood top. It's been used a few times and had earned a few dents and ridges. Once I have it completely square, I'll mount the forms themselves. That might take a bit of tweaking as well.

Of Ice and Wood

2007-10-27T15:31:00.000-04:00

On the ice........

I guess the lads on my league team had a bit of a bad outing a couple of weeks ago - so I was tapped to play last week and this week in the pipes. This makes me goalie # 3 so far this year (I usually play forward in this league) - needless to say, I was a bit nervous.......and so was the rest of the team after the first five minutes and a 0-3 deficit. But we did win that one 5-3 and this last week was a much improved 5-1 win.

Try as I might, I have a terrible time with my glove hand - my stick side is great, and maybe that's whats keeping me looking good, most goalies have a harder time on that side, so that's where most of the shots are. I got the glove on ebay, but the manual never came with it.

The regular goalie has a severe ankle sprain and thinks he might be back after hunting season. But I was talking to my buddy at work who has played nets since he was 6 and he told me he had to take almost a full season to recover from a similar injury (it's the stance and the push-off that can be painful during play, you may not even feel it from day to day).

It's still a blast - all the guys know each other and I was filling in for a goalie on a Sunday night pickup game. That was 4 on 4 with some of the better players from my league - I was soaked by the end of the night.

In the shop....

I finished re-cutting the a couple of the forms that had been damaged through previous builds. I might still have to shave down the edges a bit, but nothing major. Tomorrow, I'll be setting up the strongback and setting in the forms. This provides a skeleton to build the canoe on.

My wood is on order now from my canoe place -and I should be into actual construction by the first week of Nov. The big deal this week was forming the stems for the canoe.

Stems are laminated strips of wood at the two ends of the canoe. I had spent a few hours cutting and planing down some strips of walnut for this. Al Witham (who is essentially teaching me how to do this) finished off the cedar and ash strips during last week.

After steaming the stems for about an hour (just bundle the wood together, set it in a long tube overtop a kettle and plug both ends with rags) Al told me that in theory we have about 45 seconds to get these pieces bent and clamped onto the form......but in reality it was probably closer to 15 sec. A weeks work dependent on 15 sec.....boy I love carpentry!.

Everything went well and even Al and my friend Ez were suprised, because no one who made canoes with them had ever tried to bend walnut before (I found this out afterwards).

Some fun

2007-10-01T18:32:00.000-04:00

Ok - no posts since August. Yeah, things are going that well. Work seems to be sapping the life out of me.

So - as far as fun updates from Iain....

Tuesday night hockey (The Rusty Blades) has started and we are all floating around having fun. One chap was caught backchecking, at least that's what we believe the term is - he was sternly reprimanded...well maybe mocked ad nauseum in the dressing room is a better way to phrase it.

It's always a good skate - even though I was playing nets last week and was helping the lads pad their stats.

Thursday night hockey is on, as well. Gentlemen's league. A little more competetive - at least the off season conditioning helped a bit. Still a good time - I leave the Industrial Hockey to the the twentysomethings who are still trying to make the NHL.

I have tweaked my PC a bit - finding a new graphics card and a new power supply. Well, new to me. Purchased via ebay - they are running well. Can't really tweak it any further, but I do enjoy tinkering with PCs. Though I don't think I could do it for a living. Our IT Department (one guy) is a now a self-confessed ludite who has nothing to do with computers outside of work.

So, coming up for the winter: APICs night school, cedar strip canoe project and music lessons on the guitar if I can find the time.

On Walden Pond

2007-08-25T16:20:00.000-04:00

Getting out for a couple of weeks was needed. Deb and I hunkered down at the cottage for the whole two weeks of vacation - and it was great.

Work has been getting the best of me lately. I knew I was stressed, but no idea how badly. After coming back from holidays, my guts were immediately in a knot and I had trouble sleeping all week. Far too much going on at the plant and a lot of staff cuts were made final this week.

Although the weather wasn't as hot as Deb likes it (ie air temperature 30 and martni temperature 10 or less), it was always sunny and the martinis were always cold.

However, while I was at the lake, I made the best of it. Read a couple of novels (actually two and a half), made some repairs, built some chairs and had some very nice leisurely dinners with friends and family.

The chairs were made out of left over lumber from my back deck at home. It's red cedar and the grain looks amazing with the clear finish (the picture is the unfinished product).

I could only use a jigsaw and my circular saw, so a lot of the cuts are done by eye without a guide. I think they turned out pretty good - just goes to show what you can do if you can take your time and have fun with something.

Of course, I couldn't put a brand new chair on the ratty, old looking deck (at least I think those were the words used - just kidding Deb).

Still - it was very relaxing.

Craig and Karen came up for a weekend and we all had a blast. Friday and Saturday night were both spent in front of the fire pit looking at the stars and watching the meteor showers. Quite a sight.

At one point, we all spotted a satellite moving across the sky. As chance would have it, it caught the light of the sun that had just set low behind the mountain. It was like a flash bulb from space, only for a second, but something none of us had ever seen before.

We had brought the "fur kids" up with us and they had a blast. Phantom bagged 2 shrews and a field mouse - no credit was given for the 2 chipmunks that played possum until they were dropped. If only I could have captured the look of suprise on his face when they bolted under the cottage - he must have had it figured out after that as he was on a mission every time he went out.

Phantom also found a snake - which was very entertaining as he had never seen one before. It reared up a couple of times trying to look imposing, but Phantom batted at the things head like a ill tuned metronome - wow a toy that moves on it's own. Not to worry, it got away unharmed.

One thing I am glad to see is the variety of wildlife around the lake. A good sign of a balanced eco-system. There were tons of frogs and toads this year. Karen saw a snapping turtle with a shell about 2 feet in diameter. Minks (possibly otters) have been seen around as well as a couple of ospreys (which is a first). The loons had two young ones this year and it looks like they are eating well given their size.

So, now it's back to the grind. Hopefully, the batteries are recharged enough to see me through to Christmas. This break sure does help put things in perspective.

2007-07-24T20:03:00.000-04:00

Ok - I know I'm not gonna be popular....but I HAVE to say this.

Ray Emery is not a $3.0 Million dollar a year goalie.

Don't get me wrong - he's got a lot of promise. Technically, he knows where to be on the ice and he's got a fast glove. Other than that, I think its been pure hype that has most fans convinced he is the "new hope".

Every guy I know who plays nets is saying the same thing. In a few years, he'll be a cornerstone, but not right now. He didn't "take" the team to the cup, he was along for the ride. He never stole a game. The Sens defense was so strong most nights, I think Philips and Volchenkov were blocking more shots than he was.

I still believe Gerber is a better goalie that had a slump. Emery was up, and they started to win (keep in mind some of the Shots On Net didn't get over 20 against for some games). A couple of buddies of mine saw Gerber during an open practice and told me how he dominated over Emery.

I think Emery's flamboyance, style and character is what people are in love with. I'm looking at his technique - he has no lateral movement and locks up too long when going into the butterfly.

Well, I guess we'll see where this goes next year.

My Big Fat Greek Dinner

2007-07-16T19:04:00.000-04:00

In our tradition of celebrating the grape harvest up at the lake, we have a traditional greek dinner and open a bottle of the previous years product. And more food than Dionysus would have at a feast.

And I have to tell you...not too bad.

The sugar content had to be boosted a bit because the vines got a bit of a late start. That may have led to legs that may have been a bit heavy, but not outrageous- hints of scents from port or sherry, but still a good table wine with dinner.

Decent legs, deep muddy cherry nose (no Rudolph puns please), slightly acidic but smooth.

All in all, I was quite impressed. We had opened a bottle New Years (which tasted quite young) and you can tell how it has mellowed.

This year is going to be a little tight for time. Hopefully, September will bring some hot weather to give the grapes the final push. I'm a seriously thinking of investing in a small oak barrel for the vineyard. That should help lengthen the fermentation time and take care of the acidic nature.

Last year we got about 8 or 9 bottles from the plants......that probably puts our wine at some of the most expensive you'll ever see.

Animals from the cottage

2007-07-09T20:52:00.000-04:00

At the risk of redundancy, I'm going to post a link to a couple of videos Deb and I shot at the cottage. Deb is much more adept at the editing and the final artistic output - I'm just a cameraman to her "Spielberg".

There were a couple of pretty neat sightings this week - one was a Dock Spider....not the biggest I've seen around the place, but sizeable. The other was a young moose (which is fairly rare for our area).

Despite the dreary weather, it was good to get away. I'm still sorry I didn't get to film Deb on her rant on mining rights (Rick Mercer would've been proud).

Baby Turtle

Moose on the loose

Bug Hunting

Weekend in the Vineyard

2007-07-03T19:57:00.000-04:00

Part of this weekend was spent in our vineyard at the cottage. Boy - that does sound posh and romantic doesn't it. Maybe I should stop there.

By "spending time" I mean to say I was stooped over for hours digging through sand, fending off deerflies with no shade to be found, pruning over grown shrubs so the raccoons will have something to eat this fall.

But at the end of it all, we can get a few bottles of wine out of it.

"Tastes good to me"
-Thomas Hayden Church's character in "Sideways"

Recap of June

2007-07-03T19:46:00.000-04:00

Although June started out well (with our anniversary holiday) - it proceeded to go downhill quickly from there.

Most of the month revolved around work and the large layoffs we were making. First time I've been on this side of the fence for something like this - not pleasant to say the absolute least and I'll spare the details about knocking heads with senior management.

Dave Robertson is staying on (I don't know whether folks know he works with me at "The Zoo") but he's been a big asset since he joined. A lot of other folks we had to let go, so the mood is a little bleak.

So, I'll be trying to concentrate on some more positive things this month. Hope to get posting more often.

I was a dog in my other life - I'm sure of it

2007-06-30T08:26:00.000-04:00

discover your dog breed @ quiz meme

Our 18th Anniversary Weekend

2007-06-01T08:22:00.000-04:00

18 years for me and Deb (actually together a little more than 20).....boy did this weekend start with a blast.

Craig and Karen came up from TO for Wednesday night. Now that we've added the deck to the back, it's a great time to sit and talk. Unfortunately, we were not able to find a decent patio set (well..ok - I mean affordable), but it was nice to be able to look out at the lawn and the new flower beds that we've put in over the last couple of weeks. My landscaping abilities pale in comparison to Craig's, however.

Deb and I had gone on a search for some patio furniture with a specific idea of what we wanted. After looking for the low end, quick solution stuff you'd see at Walmart or Loblaws, we had to keep shopping - now at the speciality "Outdoor Living" stores. If you want to get some perspective on how the other half lives - go to Hauser....and take out an extension on your line of credit. There was another store we visited later on that Deb found a comfortable, nice looking and stylish set attracting the attention of a very nice salesman who proceeded to tell us how it was the "Cadillac" of what they sold (curse Deb's good taste - once she gets an idea on what she wants...sigh).

Criag has a lot in Toronto that is over 200ft deep, most of which is backyard. He has been working on it for years and has converted it into a small park, isolated from prying eyes. He has had to take out a pool, trees, replace shrubs, move rocks - really too much to mention. Having him up to give us some pointers on garden layout was great. We are really set to put some finishing touches on our backyard now.

A great time was had Wednesday night - a nice steak dinner and a lot of beer. In fact a suprising amount of beer. Craig brought 12 Stella and I had picked up another 12 for the weekend. The following morning, when we were packing up, we only had 4 bottles left and Deb and Karen didn't have all that much. If the Sens had won - it would have been a perfect evening.

Deb and I packed up and headed up to the lake for the weekend, hoping for nice hot weather and maybe a thunderstorm. Well, there was no disappointment there. What started as a typical thuderstorm grew into, what we worried, could have turned into a tornado (there was a warning for our area). There was a close strike that made us both jump a bit, but it was the wind that kept increasing that got us a little riled (especially after losing our big cedar last year ago with the F2 that went through). Thanks to Deb and her camera, we got the whole storm on video and have watched it twice.

Today looks like we may have a repeat performance. It's as humid as the tropics and the lake is as still as glass right now. Maybe, we can post a video link when we get home.

Working Outside

2007-05-24T20:18:00.000-04:00

Well - the heat has come and I'm starting to get the itch to do some work around the house. When the weather is co-operating, I love to get my tools out and get into some carpentry or some kind of home improvement project. If the weather can hold this weekend, I can start getting a third coat of paint on the porch or get the backyard garden into shape.

There is something about working outside that I prefer. Maybe it's just the fact that there is a lot of room or it could be the fresh air or myabe it's just the added sense of freedom. My workshop downstairs doesn't get a whole lot of use and I think its because of the lack of natural light. I know there is a lot of stuff I could be doing during the winter (well, at least more than I usually do).

I have a vision of a "perfect workshop" that would be about the size of a large double garage with large doors (ie garage door size) on two walls that would be able to open up to give more free workspace. It would probably be a little on the expensive side to make, but maybe I can put that on potential retirement projects.

Anyways, this year it will be a matter of esthetics on the house - no major construction. The cottage, however, will be another story. Somehow, there is always something that crops up - not that I mind that much once i get started on it.

Surviving Hockey after 40

2007-05-23T18:42:00.000-04:00

For the last few years, I've been going to the gym down the street from work. I have no aspirations to become "huge" merely survive what I'm putting my body through.

I've played hockey for a little over 10 years now - not well...but I do play. It started as a bit of an addiction because I was learning quickly and the excercise was great. So I would play 3 or 4 times a week sometimes. It was a lot of fun with the guys at the time, but eventually it got to be a bit much, especially with how busy I was at work.

Now, my long term goal is to be able to continue playing for another 20yrs - so I've taken to investing some time into working out to keep me in shape to play. When there is serious talk about making sure the guys on the team know how to use a portable shock unit - you start to take heed.

So this is my workout......

March thru May - Strength Training
June thru Aug - Core Training with Cardio
Sept thru Nov - Cardio/Strength (by this time I'm playing twice a week)
Dec thru Mar - Core/Strength (still playing twice a week)

Strength Training (I try to get through this in a week - usually alternate between chest and arms from week to week if I dont get to everything).

Bench Press = 3 sets; 150lbs x 10 reps (ok - this one I'm working on)
Incline Bench= 3 sets; 180lbs x 10 reps
Chest Fly (Universal)= 3 sets; 90lbs x 12 reps

Single Leg Press = 3 sets; 260lbs x 12 reps
Calf Raises= 3 sets; 280lbs x 12 reps
Leg Extensions=3 sets; 100lbs x 12 reps
Leg Curls=3 sets; 100lbs x 12 reps

Leg lifts = 3 sets; 15 reps
Thera Ball sit up = 3 sets; 15 reps with 45lb plate
Ab Crunch (Universal) = 3 sets; 150lbs x 10 reps
Rotary torso (Universal)= 3 sets; 80lbs x 12 reps
V Sit Rotary Torso= 3 sets; 25lbs x 15 reps
Pike Ball Hand Off = 3 sets; 1 annoying ball **

Single Arm Curl = 3 sets; 35lbs x 10 reps
Curl Bar = 3 sets; 80lbs x 10 reps
Straight Bar = 3 sets; 75lbs x 10 reps

Tricep Pull Down = 3 sets; 90 lbs x 12 reps
Skull Crusher = 3 sets; 75lbs x 10 reps
Full Length Pull Overs = 3 sets; 20lbs x 10 reps
Overhead lift = 3 sets; 80 lbs x 10 reps

Lateral Pull Down (Universal) = 3 sets; 120lbs x 10 reps
Seated Low Row (Universal) = 3 sets; 110lbs x 10 reps
Seated Mid Row (Universal) = 3 sets; 150lbs x 10 reps

I use the CORE EXCELLENCE workout book when I get into the Core Training. It's a 13 week program that incorporates some weight training but a lot of "pre-emptive" care for balance and joint strength. If you think you're in shape - try this.....it was a shock to me, but now I use the excercises regularly.

For Cardio I've taken to the Eliptical or Stationary Bike - the treadmill is just too much pounding for me.

So far, as long as I keep the calorie intake up, it's not too bad. Since I started this serious workout, I have been able to avoid injury (knock on wood) and I seem to heal up from the games better.

So, this helps give me a bit of an edge when I'm playing. But it doesn't totally make up for lack of skill - it's nice to be the first one to the puck, I just wish I knew what to do once I got there.

Enter the Blog-gon

2007-05-15T19:42:00.000-04:00

Well, here's the first post.

Funny, but I've started this a number of times and gone back to delete things or reword things because "hmm somebody might take that the wrong way". I'm not terribly concerned about being misunderstood in this medium (being misunderstood seems to be one of my fortes - so bash on!). However, I have found that I have become conditioned to constructing written dialogue in a rather stilted fashion - which I attribute to the vast quantity of email I deal with every day.

It seems email has become the corporate opiate - people would far rather construct a thread of quick question and answer emails that go back and forth over the span of hours (sometimes days) rather than pick up the phone and talk to someone directly. Based on some of the emails I've seen, you'd expect more people to be doing that if the written word wasn't exactly your strong suit ("Sorry for the incontinence"....from one that I was copied on from work - I kept it in my archive). I try to avoid sending email as much as I can, I know my strength is not in prose - but HEY! I can attach a spreadsheet with the best of them!

On occasion, I have posted thoughts or comments on bulletin boards or public forums. Yeah - don't do that anymore. To me, these are a good barometer of society - count the number of flame responses you get and multiply by a thousand and that's how many morons there are out there. People will read what they want into things no matter how you try to detail something in writing - the more detailed you are, the worse it seems to get.

So, a sense of conditioning starts to creep in (at least with me). Stick to facts, offer opinion substantiated by objective evidence, feelings and intuition out the window...add a dash of numbers and top off with at chart. But here, this will be my little venting place.

I named it "The Bug's Bar" because I like to play bartender and some of my fondest memories were hanging around with my friends (way back when) at the Duke of Somerset gabbing on about whatever crossed our minds at the time. My hopes are that this will be a nice place to write things that my friends and family might read from time to time - which means I won't have to elaborately explain myself.