July 2007 In Review

I took a blogging hiatus and it was swell. Now I'm back and we have some catch-up to do. Here's how July went down...

Biscotti and I went to Whistler from July 13-15 for our first anniversary. While there, we did the Rainbow Lake hike which neither of us had done before. There was a lot more snow than we were expecting, and Rainbow Lake was almost entirely covered, but hey, it was a good time nonetheless. Some very nice waterfalls while en route. See pics from the hike here.

Also while in Whistler we went to Mongolie Grill, which shouldn't really surprise anyone. What will surprise you, as it did us, is that our respective bowls of chow weighed the exact same! Crazy eh? Well, we thought it was cool. And so did the guy who weighed the bowls. So you should too.

Many times recently, I read in papers and magazines the word majority. I heard many people say it too. And every single time I read and heard it, it was preceded by another word: vast. Is every majority vast? No, but you wouldn't know it these days.. It seems the vast majority of people, especially the collective media folk, need to learn that they can use the latter word without using the former word.

I've been checking in on this site Mondays fortnightly as author Yann Martel continues to send Prime Minister Stephen Harper books. Martel has received a response from the first book sent, albeit from Susan I. Ross, Assistant to the PM. The latest book, la huitieme (sorry, no accent graves, or agus), is a book of very short poems. Check out this poem, known as the world's shortest:

Fleas

Adam

'ad 'em

And now to an example of horrible things humans are capable of. As you may have heard, NFL QB Michael Vick of the Atalnta Falcons is charged with involvement in a dogfighting operation run from a house that Vick owns. The details are gruesome, and the entire thing is abhorrent. If Vick was involved in any manner, that's bad enough, but what I find equally offensive are the comments made by Washington Redskins RB Clinton Portis.

In the June 4th edition of Sports Illustrated, writer George Dohrmann quotes Portis as saying, "It's [Vick's] property; it's his dogs. If that's what he wants to do, do it". He also said that if Vick were convicted of dogfighting, he would be "behind bars for no reason". Remarkable. Dohrmann writes, 'Animal control officials call this the "just dogs" mentality. "It's just dogs," explains [Kathy] Strouse, "so why does it matter?"'

In the July 30th edition of SI Jack McCallum writes that 'Portis also expressed the learned opinion that if dogfighting is held behind closed doors, then it's O.K.' McCallum also writes, 'According to the indictment ... as recently as April Vick and two of his associates executed about eight dogs in ways that stunned John Goodwin, an animal-fighting expert for the Humane Society of the United States. "Why would someone kill a dog this way?" asks Goodwin. "the only reason I can think if is that they took some pleasure in it, which is just sick."' Humans really piss me off sometimes.

Now to a happier topic! Flight of the Conchords. A friend asked if I'd heard of them - I hadn't - and a few days later finally looked them up on youtube and after watching just one video I instantly fell in love. Flight of the Conchords is a New Zealand folk, pop, and comedy duo composed of Bret and Jemaine (wikipedia). I will be posting three youtube videos soon, today if you're lucky, but I also strongly recommend watching their new television show. You can do so at this site. Each episode has three parts, each part about 8-9 minutes in length, about as long as a halfhour show would be without commercials. What are ya waiting for, give it a go mate. I root root root for this show to be aired on a Canadian network, like maybe Showcase or Bravo or the Comedy Network.

I saw the Simpsons movie the night before last - loved it.

After a few months after my last run (which itself was a year or so after my last run before that), I went for a run last Thursday in Pacific Spirit Park with Maui & Holly - and felt surprisingly good during and after. I didn't have high hopes of endurance but was able to go for about 35-40 minutes. A second outing yesterday morning was more difficult. I have a goal - set while writing this paragraph - of doing a half-marathon in 2008 and a full marathon in 2009. I guess that's two goals.. All of that was an intro to saying that I'm trying to get into shape by being more active. I'm cycling more, both for recreation and transportation. I play baseball for a Surrey team and most of our games are in Surrey or other such locales which are a tad difficult to get to on a bicycle from Vancouver. On Saturday July 7th we were supposed to have a game at Blue Mountain Park in Coquitlam. I was psyching myself up to cycle there, was planning the best route, and then the game was canceled.

On July 24th though, we had a midweek game at Central Park in Burnaby. After the aforementioned disappointment I didn't hesitate to pack up one of my panniers with my uniform and necessary equipment and cycle on over. Twenty minutes after leaving home I arrived at the park. Man it felt good. I felt like I was 12 years old again, cycling to a baseball game while wearing my full uniform (yup, cleats too) and carrying my glove in a plastic bag hanging from my wrist. Anyway, after arriving at Central Park after the nice leisurely bike ride, I was entertained by teammates' stories of traffic hell over the bridges and through the cities with this midweek rush-hour game being much more of a traffic headache than our usual Sunday games.

That's it, I'm done. I now return you to your regularly scheduled summer, or winter if you're on the flipside of the planet, like in New Zealand or something..