I stand corrected!

Wow! I obviously had not looked at what events were coming up when I wrote my last post on the number of medals and the success of our athletes. Actually I did but I didn't think the athletes had the chances to get anything more than what I posted. I now stand corrected and will give myself ten lashings for saying that we were only renting the podium. With the recent surge of medals (especially Gold medals), we have reached a record high for a host nation and stand very good chances of getting a few more before the end of the games tomorrow night.

So here is my NEW definition of own the podium. It varies a little from the original intent of the program. When the medal ceremony announcers present the athletes, they go from Bronze medalist to Silver medalist and finish with Gold medalist "and Olympic Champion". So if we finish with the highest number of Gold medals, and by "we" I mean Canadian athletes because on my couch except for the occasional burst of energy to get another beer or urge the athletes to push harder I'm as far removed from participating in the medals as can be. Actually my brother is farther east so I'm closer than him. I digress so back to what I was saying, if we finish with the highest number of Gold medals, we should be the Olympic Champions and thus Own The Podium...the highest step that is. As I write these lines we have 10 Gold medals the most of any country with Germany at 9 , US and Norway at 8. Lets play King of the Hill and remain on the top step until the end.

Go Canada Go... for the last day and a half.

Own The Podium...or Renting it?

So I keep hearing athletes thanking Own The Podium (OTP) after every event when they are being interviewed. Here is a little bit about OTP.

The Canadian Olympic Committee, the Vancouver organizing committee and Canada's sport federations established the program Own The Podium five years ago with the goal of winning more medals than any other country in 2010. It was an ambitious plan, but the feeling was that the Canadian team needed to aim high and capture the imagination of the Canadian public.

That Canadian public invested heavily in the program. Of the $117 million invested in athletes, $66 million of it was taxpayer dollars.

I get it and I fully agree with such a program because it is what we need if we want to be represented by the best this great land has to offer. Unfortunately, we are going to rent space on that podium but certainly not own it because the Americans already have 15 more medals than us.

I had a quick look at the OTW numbers and out of the $22 million and change for the 2010 Olympics training, a little over $7 million or one third was dedicated to the alpine skiing team and the speed skating team. These two sports received $3.4 and $3.8 million respectively leaving the other 12 sports with much less funding for the 2009/10 year. How many medals did we get from those two sports? Christine Nesbitt (Gold), Christina Groves (Silver and Bronze) and Marianne St-Gelais (Silver) produced four of the nine medals and all in the speed skating category. None were delivered from the Alpine Skiing. Freestyle skiing and snowboard cross with $2 million each produced four medals (2 x Gold and 2 x Silver) so they did what was expected of them. Jon Montgomery (Gold) was in the $2 million pot for the bobsleigh teams.

So we have some curling, figure skating, team speed skating, areal ski jumping and hockey left. I believe we will get 6 more medals in these sports and if the men's hockey team start playing for real we may get a seventh one. I realy don't know how the women figure skating will fair because Chan and the other men did not do well. The ice dance got a gold so that's pretty good.

Was OTP successful? I don't believe it was because the sports where we got medals are OUR sports where Canadians have always excelled and been medal contenders so those were almost certain. However, the Hamelin brothers failed to deliver in a sport invented by Quebec skaters, Clara Hugues, Cindy Klassen and Jeremy Witherspoon were no better, running out of steam and frankly, they did not look ready for this. The team events in speed skating should produce one or two medals but if their individual results are any indication, we'll be fourth. If only they had a medal for fourth we'd be leading in numbers.

I hope OTP continues to invest in our athletes. They (OTP) will have to do better in London 2012 and should stress the importance of the commitment from the Canadian taxpayer so athletes show up ready and determined to win GOLD.

For now we don't Own The Podium, we just rent it for the occasional medal ceremony.

Chuck

Redneck or just proud to be Canadian.

It has been suggested that my previous posts on the Olympics make me sound like a redneck. Maybe so if by redneck we mean someone who has travelled this country from sea to sea to sea and has spent a considerable amount of time in 7 provinces and one territory and was able to experience the various cultural differences in those provinces. I'm a redneck if by this knowledge of my country I'm able to see the narrow mindedness of Canadian people who think of only their little sand box of a region, let alone their province. This country is by far the greatest I have visited in all aspects of life for a human being. And I've only visited the US, Mexico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Bermuda, England, Germany, Holland, Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates and Afghanistan. So not that many but enough to allow myself the freedom to comment on how we are not helping our image by dwelling on the past and not reinforcing what we are and what we are becoming.

The aboriginal culture is part of our country but not THE country. The US does not represent itself as cowboys and Indians. The Aussies were founded as a prison colony. You don't see crocodile Dundee going around. Japanese people don't carry samurais and fight like Ninjas. The opening ceremony and the 16 days following were our chance to showcase a UNITED country. I hear a lot of French on English TV yet there is constant complaining from Quebec that this guy didn't say it in French and that guy only spoke a few words and we couldn't understand his French. There are a lot of French speaking Canadians outside La Belle Province and they are not bitching. Why is that?

I guess I must be a redneck because I want my country to be united as one bilingual voice and all these little things bug the heck out of me. I go back to a comment I made in a previous post, I hope Quebec doesn't get the Olympics because the riff between this province and the rest of the country will open up and never close again. No Quebec "separatist" government will allow the CANADIAN Olympic committee to dictate the rules to follow and Mayor Labeaume will surely fight with every rule imposed to him. Is this how we want to be seen by the world? That's a big NO for me.

Redneck Chuck

4 ième médaille pour le Canada ...mais pas le Québec???

Hé! oui, la quatrième médaille pour le Canada à été gagné pas l'Albertain Mike Robertson en snow board cross. Une médaille d'argent très bien mérité et à un petit pied de gagner la deuxième médaille d'or pour le pays. Le Canada est très fière de Mike sauf le Québec parce que le journal de Québec n'en parle même pas. On parle de François Boivin et de sa 12ième place?!?! C'est bien de le mentionner parce que c'est un p'tit gars de Jonquière mais calisse l'autre a gagné un médaille d'argent pis y son pas foutu de mentionner plus que son nom.

Ostie d'journal de péquiste.

The opening ceremony...almost perfect.

Wow! Double Wow! I was blown away by the "moulin à image" technology used for the opening ceremony in Vancouver. Yes there was the politically (read) "chicken shit" correctness of having a bunch of natives do the drunken dances on the floor and 4 clowns sitting in the VIP box with feathers and shinny costumes. How chicken shit is that? Let me say it again,...how chicken shit is that? There is geological and archaeological proof that our First Nations we not the first ones on this land and historical/political proof that they weren't the first ones in this country because the Indians did not create the country of Canada, the politicians of upper and lower Canada did.

The organizing committee was so scared of another OKA standoff that they figured we'll give them a big role to play in the ceremony. It made us all look like we fucking chant in circles every night before we go to bed. Great image you idiots gave the rest of the world. Lets be honest here and realize that this country was conquered by the British and that they decided to let the rest of the population live on the land without slaughtering everyone like they used to do when they attacked countries in Europe. The French and Indians had it pretty good when you consider that the invader actually gave them a place in the various levels of governments. This could have been much uglier.

Back to the Olympics, The "moulin à images" was awesome and yes you want to show the landscape and the seasons but I think the cultural aspect sucked big time. The four chiefs didn't show up for the Governor Generals salute and it's not because of traffic. We all know that they wanted to make a point. I'm sick and tired of this "We own the land" bull shit from the First Nations. We are all immigrants on this land and I understand that. By the way the Indians are too. But that's not my point. My point is that it's the white guys that turned this big ass patch of land into a country. All the First Nations are doing is saying we ow them rent, drink anti-freeze when they run out of booze, build casinos to spend their welfare check, sell contraband cigarettes, tell us that Adam Beach is their cousin and they don't even pay a fucking dime in taxes to make this country grow.

It's a good thing they don't put me in charge for a few days cuz I'd clean the place up a little and make these lazy whining drunks work for a right to live in MY country.

In the same vein, I hope Québec doesn't get the Olympics because we might never see the Canadian Flag during the ceremony. If the organizers were so chicken with a few thousand Natives, how is it going to be with four million separatists?

Salle de Bain Part Two...

La Nath finit de peinturer la dernière couche, j'installe les champlures et tout les grément que j'avais dévissé pour pas qu'a lé beurres. Je met du mono partout le long du bain pis je suis dans la salle de bain des filles pour changer le mono de leur bain parcequ'il a noircie à certaine place. Nath fait couler la champlure de notre bain pour le laver et prendre son bain pis c'est là que l'voyage à versé.

La tabarnak de champlure a coulé dans le mur pis en dessous du plancher et au travers de mon plafond de cuisine. Mauditostied'jésuscried'prêtesale!!! Parce un p'tit trou dans l'plafond de cuisine pis frappe le soliveau de plancher. Calisse! Parce un autre p'tit trou à gauche pis pas d'eau. Calisse! Parce un autre p'tit trou à droite pis là y a de leau qui dégoutte. On a testé les champlure pis y a pas l'air d'avoir de tuyaux de percés. Je décide de changer les becs de champlures pis je me rend compte que la p'tite visse qui tien le bec serré contre le tuyau de coppe a fait une marque pis le sceal de rubber ne fait pas sa job donc l'eau refoule le long du tuyau de coppe pis vu que j'avais pas encore mis de mono pour boucher le trou autour du tuyau, ça toute coulé dans le mur. J'ai essayé la champlure des filles dans notre bain pis là j'ai brisé le sceal de leur champlure donc y a fallu que j'en achète deux dés ostie de champlures à $30 chaques parce que tu peux pas juste acheté le morceau de plastic dedans. Celle des filles est réparé, la notre est modifié quelque peu pour pas que ça coule. Je n'ai pas pu la rentrer jusqu'au mur à cause de la groove dans le tuyau alors j'ai mis 1/2 pouce de mono pour couvrir le gap entre le mur et la champlure.

Pis à matin on se lave à débarbouillette parce que le mono n'est pas sèche dans les deux chambres de bain. Oh! que les madames étaient pas impressionnés ce matin.

Le look que j'leur ai donné parcontre leur a tout dit pis j'en ai pas entendu parlé après.

Si ça coule à soir...j'crisse le feu dans chiotte!

A crown via a root canal.

I went to the dentist today to get prepped for a crown on a lower molar. After shaving the tooth, he noticed that the crown would probably not hold for very long so he decided to "kill" my tooth by doing a root canal on it. Two and half hours later and a lot of freezing, I walked out of there with half a tooth with a temporary filling, pain from the clamps, the nerve removal and the unfreezing and the hope that the next time I go it won't hurt as much.

The dental assistant will call me tomorrow with my next appointment hopefully for this week because I can't chew on the right side of my mouth since I don't have a lower molar and it's the side I usually chew on. This new year is really not starting well for me. I know some people have it worst but the sports injuries and this "tooth killing" thing is not pleasant. I guess I'll come out of this with a shinny gold tooth though.

Chuck

Le Colonel Russ Williams accusé de deux meutres au 1er degré.

A Canadian military commander has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two eastern Ontario women.
Col. Russell Williams, 46, of Tweed, 8 Wing Commander of Canadian Forces Base Trenton, was arrested Sunday in Ottawa, Ontario Provincial Police Det. Insp. Chris Nicholas said at a news conference Monday.
Williams has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Jessica Lloyd, 27, whose body was found Monday off Cary Road in the Municipality of Tweed. Lloyd had been missing since Jan. 28 from her home outside Tweed, about 30 kilometres north of Belleville.
Williams has also been charged in the death of Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 38, of Brighton, Ont., who was slain in her home on Nov. 25, 2009. Comeau had been serving with the 437 Squadron at CFB Trenton.Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2010/02/08/belleville-jessica-lloyd-dead-missing.html#ixzz0ezDWkoL6

J'ai travaillé avec lui à Shearwater de 1992 à 1995. Il étais pilote de Challenger. Je me souviens aussi de lui quand il était instructeur à l'école de pilotage de Portage la Prairie en 1990. Il ne m'a pas enseigné mais il fesait parti du staff d'instructeur.

Ce que je me souviens à l'escadron 434 Bluenose, c'est qu'il était un super bon gars. Très calm et bien aimé de tous. Je ne comprend pas ou les files ont commencés à ce toucher. Je me sent mal pour sa femme et les familles des deux femme mortes.

La salle de bain.

Le mono blanc devenue noir autour du bain. Qui n'a jamais vu ça? Après quelques fois à le remplaçer je me suis apperçu qu'il ne séchait pas. Même après 48 heures passées au chalet la semaine passé on est revenu et il était encore mou. Vendredi le 5 j'avais pris congé pour relaxer mais là il fallait plutot explorer la situation. Je savais que je devais enlever quelques tuiles du bas le long du bain. Il y a 10 rangés de 10 tuiles sur le mûre du fond. Huit rangés plus tard j'ai frâppé du drywall sèche. Le coulis entre les tuiles avais fissuré et l'eau de la douche coulait entre les tuile depuis je ne sais combien de temps. Le drywall était complètement mou et le mûre ne tennait que par les tuiles.

Après quelques ostie de tabarnak, j'ai tout enlevé le mûre de tuile et j'ai été acheter un panneau/mûre (1 morceau) en acrylique chez Home Depot ($199). Bien sur j'ai installé du nouveau drywall en ciment cette fois çi et à l'épreuve de l'eau. J'ai considéré installer un nouveau bain trois pièces ($969) avec le plafond mais mon copain Dan m'a dit que je devais l'assembler dans la salle de bain avant de le pousser à sa place et que je devais avoir un moyen de sortir d'en arrière après avoir serré les fixations entre les trois pièces. Pas de place dans ma petite salle de bain pour faire ça sans enlever la toilette et la vanité sans compter le grand mirroire que Nath aime bien. J'ai aussi appelé chez Bath Fitter pour avoir un prix sur le kit de recouvrement de bain et de mûre en acrylique fait sur mesure. La madame a dit que ça partait à $3000 pour un bain de base même pas de porte savon. Un autre ostie de tabarnak avec un calisse par dessus ça pis c'est là que j'ai décidé de scrapper ma journée de congé.

Dan est venu m'aider et on a tout nettoyé autour du bain, on a vérrifié que la laine n'était pas trempé et que le planché sous le bain était ok. On a bien mesuré le morceau d'acrylique pour qu'il fit bien centré sur le mûre du fond et que les coins ronds étaient bien poussés au fond, les troues de champlure, etc... On a étendu la colle sur les trois mûres pis collé le panneau et voilà. Je suis présentement (dimanche) à faire le join de drywall en haut du mûre parcequ'il ne monte pas aussi haut que les tuiles et ensuite Nath va peinturer sa chambre de bain, je vais mettre le nouveau mono autour du bain pis on va vivre heureux pour bien des années encore ou ben j'crisse le feu dans chiotte ostie.

Bon Super Bowl!

Chuck

Winnipeg gets the garbage bins...finally!

The free press reported this morning the 73,000 household in Winnipeg will receive or have already received the new garbage bin on wheels. The article refers to the fact that Winnipeg followed Saskatchewan on this move but remained behind because the wanted to see if it worked in other markets. BULL SHIT! Québec city has had the bins since 1996 and smaller towns like Drummondville has had two bins (garbage and recycling) for at least 10 years. The way this city is making this thing sound, it's as if they are at the forefront of household refuse disposal technology. On top of that, I hear that the bins are smaller than the ones used in other provinces. I'll confirm when I get mine in months or probably years. I have my old one from Québec so I wonder if I'll be able to use it. As far as bad decisions, the same goes with snow removal. The city management is too dumb to sent reps across the country and investigate how other cities the size of Winnipeg deal with snow removal. We have front-end loaders going through the streets days after the storm when the snow is hard packed and icy. It's nice that they clear the entrance of your driveway but they do leave a little bump and you can forget using the shovel or snowblower because it's all iced up.

One day we'll catch up with the world...in the end.

Chuck

The injury saga

So after playing hockey and running a slow and painful 5km yesterday, I finally decided to go see the doc about the pain in my lower abdomen. We went through the obvious questions related to cancer symptoms for prostate, colon, kidney and any other problems associated with cancer. We both agree that the pain doesn't fit with cancer. X-rays and blood/urine test will confirm. What he believes is causing the pain is a tearing of the tissue that attaches the abdominal muscles to the pelvic bones. It is an injury related to hockey, soccer, running and pregnant women close to delivery. Two out of four I do so I'm ok with that guess. The problem is healing usually takes a looong time because we use our abs all the time. No Hockey for the rest of the season sucks but I can live with it. No running for a month and maybe longer is another story. I need to train for my two half marathons in May and for the marathon in June. The longer it takes to start training, the more kms I have to do every week. Not only that but not doing anything for a month+ will drive me nuts and I'm probably going to gain weight.

I'm meeting with the physiotherapist tomorrow to figure out what if anything I can do to help the healing and maintain some fitness level. Stay tuned.
Chuck