Monday, October 22, 2001

Just a note....last weekend was the Ekiden run in Banff. We had three Frontrunner teams from Calgary and one from Edmonton in attendance. Everyone did very well. The team I was on ended up 30th out of 190 teams. Our best place team beat us by seconds, in 29th place. I came over the rise at the finish line and saw Doug about 100m ahead of me. I poured on the speed and came in right behind him. I did the 12.4 km leg#5 in 49:50, good enough for 10th best time on leg#5. I was really happy with my time.

Swimming with UCTC is going good. We had our first timed swim last weekend, and it was the first time I've ever swam 1500m in under 30 minutes. I hope to lose another 5 minutes off the swim by next spring. My membership with UCTC is done in December. I think I'm going to join the club at Lindsay Park after that, not because I don't like the UCTC, but for convenience's sake, if I could do a gym workout in the morning before work, swim at lunch hour and run/bike in the evenings, it will make my days more organized, and won't require me riding my bike to the university and back in January (perish the thought....).

I'm heading to New Orleans on December 6. I'm really excited about the trip, and I've rationalized the fact that I'm going there in a non-tourist season time will be a good thing. Bill informs me that N.O. is insane during Mardi Gras in February and Halloween in October, and it's preferable that the locals vacate the city while all the drunken tourists flock into the French Quarter. Much like the Stampede in July here in Calgary. It's just too much redneckism and country music for most sane individuals' likings.

I will still have a few days of vacation left, so I'll take the rest at Christmas, including my banked time, and hopefully also have Dec. 22 to January 2 free. I'll head back to Manitoba, and also hopefully get into Winnipeg for a visit as well.

Next year, the plan is to go back to Montreal for Diverscite in August, and take a week before or after that to check out Ottawa and possibly Toronto. Joe is planning on going back home to PEI in the summer, so the current plan is to meet in Montreal and travel back together.

Work is going okay. I could go on about the good and bad at work, but I'm sure most of you aren't interested. Frankly, neither am I.