Better Than Leaving The Bike At Home
Published September 12, 2011 | 
I don’t care where we go
I don’t care what we do
I don’t care pretty baby
Just take me with you – prince
O.K. I know what you’re thinking. Dogs are meant to pull humans, not the other way around. What’s worse is the perception that you treat your dog like some sort of 4 legged diva. Well, there is a reason for this.. and I certainly don’t advocated dogs as pint-sized debutantes. On the other hand, sometimes you find yourself in situations you’d never thought of before. Take this summer for instance, where we found ourselves giving up on family biking when on vacation because we had no place to leave the dog. Continue reading
Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries?
Published September 10, 2011 | 
All dead all dead / All the dreams we had
And I wonder why I still live on
All dead all dead /And alone I’m spared
My sweeter half instead
All dead and gone / all dead
- queen
I’ve not eaten fish since the early 90s. I like some fish actually. Here in Wisconsin every Friday is fish gluttony day with the traditional “Friday Fish-Fry” on offer at every restaurant worth it’s salt. This is though, the oceans are in big trouble and we’ve known it for a long time. Like so many other big environmental problems, we can’t seem to get our minds around it, so we just keep contributing to it. The early 90s collapse of the Northern Cod fishery in eastern Canada was a wake up call. In the end it didn’t matter if you were for or against a moratorium, there just we rent any fish left. Of course globally we’ve not learned much from that nightmare either.
These days fish can’t even catch a break at the bottom of the sea. Today I was doing a bit of heavy reading with the Marine Policy’s Sustainability of deep-sea fisheries paper. I’m still not going to be eating fish any time soon. BTW, if you’re not into heavy reading, just grab the first and very last paragraph. Oh, and look at the fun charts and graphs… That will just about cover it.
Teaching Tips For Kayaking
Published September 9, 2011 | 
Poor Professor Pynchon had only good intentions when he
Put his Bunsen burners all away
And turning to a playground in a Petri dish
Where single cells would swing their fists at anything that looks like easy prey
– andrew bird
So.. If you are a kayaking coach, you’ll certainly want to check out the ACA’s Teaching Tips for Kayaking. There’s a lot of good stuff in there. I especially like the bit about learning styles… Of course I am quickly reminded what kind of learner I am NOT, when faced with thoes lettery-memory things like “EDRC” not to mention this paragraph heading, “Paddle Orientation for Efficiency – Basic Naval Architecture” (which includes the diagram above). If I had to absorb coaching and paddling techniques through acronyms and diagrams, I’d be taking up another sport entirely.. something simpler, like space flight!
Actually though, don’t let my side track, side-track you. The ACA is doing a great job providing lots of information for folks who can learn this way.. I’m just going to have to wait for the comic book edit.. Oh, a butterfly!
Let The Games Continue!
Published September 8, 2011 | 
I’ve read all over the place that if I just keep running, I’ll soon weigh160 lbs or some such nonsense. It seem like anyone who posts on the web that they were over 200 lbs when they started, is now like 160 and running in marathons.. Well, I’m running. That’s got to count for something anyway! 2 days back I did my 4.3 mile run in just over 52 minutes. That comes out a bit over 12 minutes per mile. Slow.. yeah, maybe but I’m not going to get too bummed out. It’s a challenging trail. It’s bad enough trying to climb the hills, let alone avoid re-spraining my ankle. Thing is, I love the challenges of a rough trail. If I weren’t pushing through a climb or navigating my way through loose rock, I think I’d get bored. Oh, but 160? I think I hear Bing Crosby singing Pennies from Heaven somewhere in the treetops! Continue reading
Posted in Fitness, My Weird Life, Outdoor Recreation, Quixotica, running | 
running, trail running | 
2 CommentsEllesmere
Published September 8, 2011 | 
I’ve spent part of my morning reading about Jon Turk & Erik Boomer’s 104 day Ellesmere adventure. (It wasn’t exactly a “circumnavigation.”) Ellsemere Island, one of the last bits of land before reaching the north pole, sits just off the coast of Greenland and is not what anyone would call “inviting”. Grinding ice, insane cold, polar bears, unpredictable weather with occasionally ferociousness winds.. Well, if it’s harsh and uninviting, there’s always a kayaker to say, “That’s where I want to be!”. Continue reading
Someone once said something to the effect that, “art is best appreciated on a full stomach”. It’s an issue of priorities. It’s hard for me to get jazzed up about the “cause du jour” when there are homeless right here in my little town (let alone everywhere else), kids without food, shelter or school supplies, mentally ill having their support funding cut, trash blowing around the parking-lots. . . on and on it goes. These days we’re so scatter shot in our focus, will and determination that it seems like we can’t solve even the most basic problems. I swear the whole herd has gone off the rails. Sorry, I know it’s not a fun subject.. just frustrating…. Needed to vent… vented.
BTW.. the video is from Serj Tankian, formerly of System of a Down.