Here’s a great post to something dear and near to my heart:

Ode to the Breast Pocket

There are but a select few shirts in my wardrobe that sport them, but the ones that do are quickly becoming favorites. For I am here today, in the year 2004, to salute the single most groundbreaking development in garment history � the breast pocket.

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Yes! The longest day of the summer (well, the second longest day after the 50km enduro) is finally over! I had too many things to do today and too little energy to finish the day.

So this morning I wrote my exam for ENGL 306A, Introduction to Linguistics. I didn’t expect a Distance Ed. course to be so demanding but with 8-9 hours of work and then trying to find time to listen to monotone lecture tapes, it’s really hard. But I’m glad I took the course. The more courses I take in CogSci, the more interesting it becomes. So that’s two of the seven courses I need to get the option. And I’ve decided to drop my Management Science courses in favour of something more interesting, something more stimulating. “I don’t want to be a manager, I want to be a president!”

Then TWO softball games. Versus 3 Scoops and Moment. At the start of our first game against 3 Scoops we only had 5 players. So one person as catcher, two infield and then two outfield. We were able to hold them to no runs in the first inning but then it fell apart after that. We ended up losing 23 – 11. Their bats were on fire. Luckily, we had a better game against Moment. We fell behind early but then I opened the 4th inning with a HOME RUN!! Yessir, I hit my first ever dinger, a solo home run. We followed that up with 2 more home runs that inning to take the lead and eventually win. Unfortunately, Moment lost again. But they only lost by 3 runs, so they are improving (or maybe our team is just missing Oliver and Jeff). Anyway, what a highlight day! I made some good defensive plays and then screwed up some easy ones. But the home run really lit up my day.

Fielder, beware! My bat has finally awoken and I’m hoping to repeat that home run (but with more people on base, of course)!

1 wannabe endo
1 pair of gloves forgotten
1 pair of gloves borrowed
1.5 Clif Bars
2 shirts
4 litres of water
6 hours, 30 minutes
7 Clif Shots
8 hours driving
9 water crossings
10 kilometres walked
20 mosquito bites
40 other racers
50 kilometres of trail
150 dismounts
———————————–
= One crowning achievement

I participated in my first ever bike race and it was a killer. 50km of the most grueling terrain I’ve ever seen in my relatively short life: climbs that seemed to stretch to heaven and then farther. But I finished. I finished 6:30 on my bike, of which an hour was probably walking up climbs. For me, finishing is all that counted.

I was plate number 200 and I felt like I finished in 200th place. Unfortunately there were only 166 riders. I was the very last rider to cross the finish line for both my own 50km race and the 100km race. But strangely I finished 3rd in my age category. So I finished 3rd place out of 3 riders aged 20-29 who finished the 50km race. I feel a bit relieved that a few people dropped out so I still beat them. Anyway, ranking or no ranking, I was so happy to get off my bike. I’ll be back in a few years with a better bike!

Wow, had an amazing lunch today at Roma Bella for my co-worker’s birthday. I can’t believe how good it was and I really felt like I was in Italy, in Rome eating out on a patio. The waiter and the owner both had that strong Italian accent that made the whole thing truly like authentic Rome.

For starters we had prosciutto with parma, smoked salmon with capers, calamari and a dish of salami and ham cuts. So four appetizers to get us going. The prosciutto was excellent with the parma and the calamari was addictive. Must be something in the sauce. And that was all topped off with nice smoked salmon, one of my favourites. After that we had a choice of some weird pastas. I couldn’t even understand the waiter because his accent was so thick. I choose gnocchi (pronounced nyo-kE) which is small potato dumplings that taste really good, but is VERY VERY filling. It was like eating a bowling ball *THUMP*.

On top of all this we drank some nice white wine (no red wine for me, thanks) from Italy and we drank sparkling water. I didn’t really understand what the big deal was with “sparkling water” like Perrier but now I know. It seems very European-ish, or maybe European outdoor cafe-ish. Apart from the European ‘feel’ to it, it actually cleans the palette better than just plain water. I think it’s something to do with the bubbles. *blub*blub*blub*

What a great two hour lunch. And my company paid for it too. So I had a $40 lunch for free! Unfortunately, that doesn’t even compare to the others who were still there at 5pm, totally sloshed. How early can you get drunk? Anyway, it’s an odd notion of authority when your superiors are wasted.

Anybody want a reprise there someday?

Went to Kelso Conservation Area with Gordon today to train and practise for our 50km enduro on the 26th. Wow, some of the climbs were just absolutely deadly!! But as hard as climbing is, descending is just as hard. I walked as many climbs as I did descents. I think I’m still very unsure of my abilities but that’s okay because I got home in one piece, no major crash this time.

I can’t believe how high we climbed. We got to this one *coughcough*restricted*coughcough area and we could see down from the top of the Niagara escarpment to the entire area. We must have been maybe 200 metres up and it was a scary thought to fall. It was so beautiful up there; nice place to bring a date if you don’t mind the climb up.

Anyway, the best part of the ride was a trail called Snakes & Ladders. It was just an awesome descent criss-crossing back and forth down the escarpment with some ladder bridges to top it all off. All that work going up paid off going down!! Well enduro in two weeks, and Kelso once again next week. Once you have one, you can’t stop!

Hmm, chocolate!!!
Went to Sam’s swank bachelor pad at Spadina and Front for dinner. It’s a really nice place in the middle of EVERYTHING! Sam has his place decked out with his Umbra furniture and lots of sports trinkets. But his ‘entertainment center’ is killer.

Well, he actually cooked for us (which was a big surprise for me) and we were thoroughly filled. First off, a spinach salad with nice portobello mushrooms to start (I was almost stuffed on salad!!! *gasp*) Then came sausages in a tomato sauce over linguine pasta. To top it all off was a chocolate souffl�! So much for my workout the day before!

So I’m having lunch on the patio of this English pub in Oakville, The King’s Arms and I’m having fish ‘n chips so I need to wash my hands. So I trot inside and ask a lad at the bar “Where’s the loo?”, trying to sound all Brit-ish and such. Unfortunately, he doesn’t understand that I meant the toilet. Then another thought hit: Waterloo = ‘loo = loo = toilet. Waterloo is a toilet!!!! So THAT’S why it smells in Waterloo.

But it still smells McNast in Oakville. I’ve figured out that it’s fish roe. Too bad that those fish are all pollutant-mutated. THAT’s what the Rock’s been cooking these days…

Do I have a weak spot for cute and cheerful? I now have another (albeit weak) reason to stay in Waterloo: the teller at the CIBC in the SLC, Leah! She was so refreshing amid the gloom of thunderous, billowing clouds outside. Whoever said I have a thing for blondes has it all wrong: power to the brunettes! Especially the curly-wavy brunettes. Today must have been her first day because bank tellers normally aren’t so nice. Sadly, she will slowly become jaded by the McWorld corporate juggernaut.

Anyway, I originally went to figure out why my never-used CIBC account is being charged $0.95 a month. So Leah explained it to me and changed my account over to a savings account. I finally had to say my “Have a nice day” and leave. So I walked away upstairs and OOPS I realized that I had forgotten to check my CIBC VISA card. So I went back down and saw her again!!! Unfortunately, noone will believe me that I really did forget about my VISA card. Ultimately, I didn’t close my account at CIBC… and NO, it’s not because she “persuaded” me.

My friend, Natalie Lam, would like to be mentioned in my blog. So, Natalie, here’s your moment of fame on my blog!!

What IS the Rock cooking? Or more precisely, what’s that smell? I got out of the car to get to work and it reeks in downtown Oakville. It has the smell of Chinatown, or on really bad days, China.

What a shocker!! I had an impression that Oakville is all posh and up-scale, so it sure shouldn’t smell the way it does, EVERY MORNING! That is just McNast!!!

NOTE: According to McWorld vs. The Mustard Seed by Tom Sine: McNast is the globalized version of all things nasty.