What do you call a ten foot putt for birdie?

A friggin' three putt for a bogey. Dagburnrasafrasa...

I love golf. Have I mentioned that before? Today I was out golfing with Mr. Team 188 himself. Harrison and I played the West Course at Cardinal today. Despite the almost hour frost delay, (yes it is still cold enough up here to have frost in the morning,) it ended up being a great day. Maybe a little windy, but nothing I couldn't handle. I didn't have a great round, 94 on the par 71, but I can pinpoint a few spots that I can clean up in the game right away. A few of these for example are the one I put in a pond, a couple of three puts, and the three or four times I let Harrison get in my head.

Note to anyone else that ever golfs with me: I am very susceptible to mind games. Perfect example from today: I am near the green in a little bit of rough and the pin is close to my edge. Harrison says, "What kind of shot are you playing?" I reply by telling him I am going to flop it on with my trouble wedge, (I have this nice Wilson loft wedge, 64deg loft with a copper insert, blah blah blah, ok I'll stop talking about my clubs like a golf nerd now.) He says, "Hmm, that's a tough shot, take a good feel." Now let me explain quickly that this is one of my best shots. Pop it straight up in the air, land 10-20 yards out depending on what I need, and roll a little bit to stop near the pin. Well after Numpty's little comment there I start thinking, "Yeah, this is a hard shot. Maybe I should be careful. Maybe I should try a different shot. No, I'm good at this one, no worries." I then proceed to hit it thin and knock it clear across the green under a tree. grrrr. Despite that I had a good time. It's nice to hang out with people from the old work team even though I have moved on. It reminds me that we became friends, not just work colleagues.

The other thing I did today was get burnt! I golfed yesterday, too with Big Al up at Bloomington and it was similar weather. So, two days golfing when it is still kind of cool but clear and sunny and now my neck, ears and face are all a little crispy. Luckily it was cool enough that I had to wear long sleeves so I didn't fry the arms as well.

Tomorrow is supposed to be the official start of the twelve week training program for the Triathlon, and already I think I may need to modify. You see, I promised Mo I would help her move and that is tomorrow so I may just need to move my first official swim to Monday which should be a gym or off day. I don't want to skimp on the swim sessions for sure. I went to the pool last week for lane swim and realized something. There is some work that needs to be done in the pool. I am not too worried though because Kinch seems to think that the swimming is the quickest to come of the three events. This is comforting because I am already getting more confident on the run, and my new bike is WAY fast.

Now I just need to string it all together.

All for now,
Kef...

Happy St. George's Day!

That's right, it is April 23 and that means that it is St. George's Day! As I have mentioned before, I am not Irish so I don't celebrate that green day in March but I did keep my promise and had the "First Annual St. George's Day Bash at Kef's Place!"

I had some good English fare like: Bangers and Mash, Toad in the Hole, and Bubble and Squeak. (For those now making the "HUH?!" face, that is: Sausages and mashed potatoes, Sausages in Yorkshire Pudding, and fried cabbage and mashed potato.) I also added a more modern English pub favourite with a vegetable curry. Nibblers included a few plates of crisps and some pickled herring. I know, that is more Scandinavian but I like it better than kippered herring. I of course had the fridge stocked with some Tetley's (Ale, not tea) and some Bass (again, Ale not fish) and some Sleaman's Silver Creek in case any guests didn't like the English Ales, which didn't happen.

Between the food and drink, putting out the flags, and just getting everyone together, that was the basis for the party. But, what more could you ask for than having your friends around with good food and drink? The St. George's Day theme was just an excuse to bring everyone together and it worked, (for the most part, not everyone could make it.)

It led me however to a realization that there are very few people, even those of English descent, who know very much about what I was doing with the flags and the food and everything. Several times the last few days I had to explain who St. George was, (I never have to explain who St. Patrick was.) And, I had to explain a couple times today what flag I had in the window. Yes, St. George's Cross is the flag of England. No, the Union Jack is the flag for all of Great Britain. That's ok, a lot of North American's are separated from their roots so I can't really hold it against them.

I had a lot of people stuffed into the apartment today. The Beast, Kaibob, Hopper, Linds, Boomer, Ryguy, Angel, JWE, Cous, Mira, Ames, Irek (best I can do, his name is already a nickname,) Noble, and oh yeah, the Roomy was there, too. I was having such a good time cooking and socializing however, that I forgot to get the camera out until most of the people were already gone. I did get a few shots of the Roomy and Noble GF cleaning up, (and Cous doing dishes...I don't know why he is trying to lick Noble.) Mira and I stayed out of the kitchen as it is too small for five. (It is too small for three but oh well.)

I am taking suggestions for the excuse to have the next party.

All for now,
Kef...

Easter Stuffing

We ate ham for Easter dinner so there was no stuffing, because you can't stuff a ham, or shouldn't anyway. What one can stuff however is one's face. I ate too much food this weekend. I was down at my Dad's place in Belleville for the Easter weekend. It was nice to get away from the big smoke for a couple days and out to the County, (Prince Edward County to be specific.)

Since it is spring, by Brother in Law, (him and the Sis were there, too, obviously,) and I got roped into helping a couple of neighbours with their docks. I guess it is one of those small community on the water things. Those who can help those who can't do it by themselves anymore. My Dad seems to be the handyman of the neighbourhood and is always being asked to help fix or install something. Working on the docks wasn't too bad though. After each short round of work, (many hands makes light dock planks...or something,) we were invited to stay a while and drink a beer. The beer of course is the lake and cottage community universal currency for services rendered. The second dock also had a bonus Mexican dip, fruit tray, and caramel nuts thrown in.

Ah yes, the food. In addition to the great home cooked meals of ham, scalloped potatoes, parsnips and baked beans, and on another night corned beef and cabbage, I also ate more cheesecake, cookies, brownies, candy, etc. than I have eaten in a LONG time. I'll just say it was ok because: a) it was a Holiday, b) we worked on Saturday, and c) I still managed to run twice this weekend, once Saturday morning and again when I got back to the TDot tonight. Shouldn't hurt the plan TOO much. *wink*

To everyone who stops by, I hope you had a wonderful Easter weekend, (or are still having it if you are a teacher or student,) and that you had the opportunity to stuff yourself on a marvelous feast like I did.

Now where's that chocolate bunny?

All for now,
Kef...

Three sports...all at once?

Wow, Blogger is sluggish tonight. Must be lots of nerds like me home on a quasi-Friday night.

Anyway, I want to give you all, (I should probably say you both, but I think a third person reads this every once in a while,) an update. The November Resolution has transformed a bit. I have been doing so well since Christmas that I have hit a low that I don't think I have seen since high school.

I am under 180 lbs!

Considering that a little over three years ago I was a slightly rounder 240. Yes, I have lost a quarter of a former me, and 20 lbs of that has been since the November Resolution started. I am not really looking to lose too much more weight at this point, but I do have a little bit extra stuff around the middle. I don't know why they call it "love handles" because I don't love it, and I really don't know any chicks that dig it either.

But, I mentioned a transformation. The November Resolution is changing and will henceforth be known as:

Training for a Triathlon

That's right, I am now getting this body into peak, (read: as good as I can,) physical condition for the Parry Sound Triathlon & Duathlon Weekend. I had been thinking about this for a while. I have been doing the spin classes for a while and I have always been a decent swimmer so all I had to add is the run, which is only 5.5km. A sprint triathlon, (incidentally, did you know that there is only one A in triathlon? I always thought it was "triathalon") is a 750m swim, 25km bike, and 5.5km run. The swim is no problem, we do nearly 20km on the bike in my spin class and I won't have to work near as hard as there, and I have already been doing almost 3km runs every other day without even being winded. Easy!

(he says now...)

I say easy because I put it in perspective with the triathlon event with which a lot of people are familiar. The Ironman. This even is like 4km swim, 180km bike, and 42.2km run, (which is a full marathon by the way, after swimming and biking!) A colleague on the new team at work has been in some of these sprint events and said he enjoyed it so I made up my mind then and there.

Now, I just have to talk Cous into joining me as his cottage is in the Sound.

All for now,
Kef...

OK, Blue Jays, Let's Play Ball!

I went and saw the home opener for the Jays on Tuesday night. They started off the season with a bang down at the Skydome, (I'll never get used to calling it the Roger's Centre. In fact, I corrected the stadium announcer every time he said it.) They celebrated the team's 30th year with a short video which was a montage of clips from when they started in 1977 to now. It included key players from each year and highlights from each season, from Dave Steib pitching his no hitter to back to back world series in '92 '93 to four of the last ten American League Cy Young Awards.

They followed that up with a touching tribute to Tom Cheek, the man who called every jays game from April 7, 1977 to June 3, 2002, an incredible streak of 4306 games. He passed away due to cancer last year at the age of 66. Later, his wife was on hand to throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the season, caught by my favourite catcher Ernie Whitt, (or Ernie W. Hitt as we called him.)

The boys took the field and played a great game. Halliday pitched well, and despite giving up two solo home runs in six and seven, he came away with the win and one of the new boys B.J. Ryan got the save. Jays home runs were put up by Bengie Molina and Alex Rios which of course added to the excitement. I think this is the first year in about ten that I have actually been excited to see the baseball season start and I have already planned to hit a few more games this season.

Good thing I didn't go last night, they got spanked!

All for now,
Kef...

Back to School

So I went back to high school today. One of the girls in my youth group asked me to help with a project in her business class by being a guest speaker. So I got to go in for first period on a Monday and talk to a handful of teens about the Tire and of all things, business ethics. I have to admit that when I thought about this topic I wasn't too keen, but soon realized that it was interesting enough and I had a LOT of examples from my own workplace. I was so nervous about going in for the presentation though because I was worried that if I did poorly, that Turkey and the rest of her group would fail. Ms. Nelson assured me that that would not happen.

I did have a bit of fun preparing and getting myself to the school early on a Monday morning however. I figured since I was going back to school to present that I should prepare the presentation well ahead of time so as not to disappoint one of my youth. Of course seeing as it was high school to which I was returning, the natural procrastinator that I am really shone through. I mean, don't get me wrong, I had all my ideas laid out in my head. I just needed to research, organize, and form some dialogue to go along with said ideas. I did most of that after the Raptors game Sunday night. It's amazing what I will do to put off school work. I never sit and watch an entire NBA game unless I go to the ACC. Preparing late into the night, (early morning,) also caused me to be a little on edge about when I had to be there. To be at the school at 9:00 is not a big deal, but on the first Sunday night of Daylight Savings, staying up late and being nervous about waking up, and being nervous about the presentation itself all led to a restless sleep. The building fire alarm going off at 4am and continuing for half an hour didn't help either! Apparently someone set fire to the dumpster behind the building. I never thought to ask the Roomy about it. He parks his car back there.

Despite all that, I arrived at school in plenty of time, the presentation went well, and the girls presented me with a nice card and a small gift as a token of appreciation. This was way more than was necessary as I had a blast just being back at school and being away from work for a few hours. Thanks Turkey!

Oh yeah, I got to write on the blackboard!

All for now,
Kef...