"The Twilight Zone"

Do you remember the twilight zone television series?  It thought it was great and wouldn’t mind finding out if you can still buy the episodes.  My flight home brought it to mind as I considered the rotation of the earth relative to my flight pattern and the position of the sun.  I leave Shanghai at 5:45 pm and arrive in Toronto shortly afterwards by the clock.  If I imagined my flight chasing the sun I would conceivably have about 13 hours of twilight….that spooky kind of time between day and night where strange things happen.  Of course as I mentioned in the past, the flight actually goes over the top of the world rather than east-west or vice versa.  What that means as far as sunlight goes I’m not 100 percent sure but I suspect that it’s just gonna be dark!

Anyway this whole trip has been kind of a twilight zone adventure.  It started with the shocking filth I seen in the streets of Chennai.  Shocking for 2 reasons.  The whole sensory experience of course, but that somehow became secondary to the attitudes I witnessed.  I spent time with people with master’s degrees in such things as engineering and human relations, that were totally oblivious to what was offensive to me.  They didn’t seem aware that the bus driver didn’t wear any shoes, and that when he got out of the car to walk through the crap on the street he never even winced.  For some reason at some point in one of our sojourns through the streets I flashed back to something I heard on the airplane on the way there.  “Would you like some ice with your Perrier sir?”  India is of course built on a cast system (4 levels) and the whole system is set up to remain that way.  One of the guys told me that his mother refused to let his wife into her kitchen because he had married someone from one level down.  The lowest caste is the group that does the dirty work and the second lowest level are the trades people.  I thought that I would fit in there but when I told the guy that my parents were actually farmers it turns out I would be in the lowest group after all.  Caste is hereditary!  There is no way out!

The few days I spent in China were also kind of weird.  I alluded to it yesterday but I think I figured out why I felt a little unsettled this time compared to last.  On the previous trip I was here with the big bosses and I’m now pretty sure that is why I was so well received.  Not that there was any discourtesy of any kind, but everyone was just much too busy to be able to spend their time with me.  I’m not sure of the reasons for the hierarchal attitudes here, but I can speculate that they are probably historical as well, combined perhaps with several decades of communist rule….power to the people and all that bullshit! I had a couple of twilight zone moments here too.  Yesterday I bartered for 6 little ceramic bracelets for Kylie.  They were all sitting on the sales counter prior to the lady picking them up and putting them in a bag for me.  When I got to my hotel there were 5 in the bag!  I am sure I did not lose one!  My other moment occurred after I got out of the car at the airport.  I checked in with the machine and as I was heading to the security area this horrible feeling washed over me.  I was actually light headed and felt a blush go from head to toe.  “Oh my God!  Where is my backpack with my computer, my i-pad and all my business documents???”  Oh yeah…on my back!

Anyway.  I’m just gonna dedicate the whole trip to Rod Serling and chalk it up as a great learning experience.  I have learned enough for a while though so I’m gonna get on an airplane and go home.  I just hope I don’t end up back in 1940, or on another planet, or as a different person when I get to the other end.  Or at least if I do I hope they have Internet there so that I can post again tomorrow.

(weights, 60 mins)

“And each town looks the same to me, the movies and the factories
And ev'ry stranger's face I see reminds me that I long to be,
Homeward bound,”---Paul Simon

“Home where my thought's escaping,
Home where my music's playing,
Home where my love lies waiting
Silently for me.”---Paul Simon

“It may be said with a degree of assurance that not everything that meets the eye is as it appears.---Rod Serling

Love

Peter

"Net Positive Contributor"

I am the first to admit that I struggle to feel like I am adding value working in this culture.  I am a "what you see is what you get" kinda guy, but I think it's a little contradictory to the way that most of my Chinese coworkers operate.  As I believe is the case with the average westerner, I tend to give you my trust and then wait for you to screw me over, while my sense of most people here is that they will give you their trust only after long evidence that you deserve it.  They are extremely polite, courteous, and helpful, and yet the smiles never seem to quite make it to the eyes.  I compare that to the Latin culutures I have worked in where the smiles generally light up the face.

But it is what it is.  Neither good nor bad, just what it is.  And it is up to me to adjust my style in order to be effective.  I have to work on it because I am not comfortable if I don't feel like I am a "net positive contributor".

What do I mean by that?  Well, as we go through our daily routines of work and life we make withdrawals and deposits.  With work one of the withdrawals is of course the salary that you receive.  Another one may be the mistakes you occasionally make both from a technical and a relationship perspective.  The idea of course is that the deposits you make, the value you add,  outweighs the withdrawals.  I did have one exceptional meeting with one of the senior leaders who perhaps not coincidenatlly lived in Canada for several years despite being born and raised in China, and so I'm going to try to believe that it paid my wages for the last several days.

The point of all that is that I think the idea of being a net positive contributor (NPC) deserves merit, and could easily be applied to any situation or circumstance.  Are you an NPC in your work?  Are you an NPC in your family?  When you stumble into someone else's emotional situation are you an NPC?  Or how about just being a participating member of the human race and living on this planet....are you a net positive contributor??  I think I am, but just barely.  I would like to start moving a little further away from the proverbial "fine line"  Wish me luck.

"The play goes on and you may contribute a verse.  What will your verse be?"---Anon

"So much sadness exists in the world that we are all under obligation to contribute as much joy as lies within our powers"--- John Bonnell

Love
Peter

"Fifty Pushups"

I haven't gone over 35 prior to today and of course now I know why. I wasn't trying hard enough! I wonder how many a fellow could actually do if it really mattered. Would the mind over matter thing get you to 75? Or maybe even 100? Who knows? What I do know is that like most things in life, you can do just a little bit more if you really care to.  I need to get home to start pushing the proverbial envelope!

Went out to dinner tonite with old friends and had a very nice time. I still find it so weird to sit in a restaurant half way around the world with people I met in St Thomas.

Now I am very tired...not from the pushups...just from lack of sleep. Good night!

(weights 60 mins)

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."---Saint Augustine

“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries."---Aldous Huxley

Love
Peter

"Eye Contact"

A few weeks back when Claudette and I were at the hockey game in Montreal she gave me shit for what she considered rudeness to the hawkers trying to sell you stuff. What she was commenting on was the fact that I completely ignored them, refusing to even make eye contact. Until she mentioned it I really never realized how cold I had gotten in this regard. I do acknowledge that it is the height of rudeness to refuse to even look at someone who has spoken to you. I knew right away however why I am like that, and you may have even guessed that it is because of my overexposure to street vendors and beggars over the last several years. Making eye contact is the first step in a discussion, and I have learned that in most situations, discussions with the aformentioned vendors inevitably leave me poorer....not just in dollars and cents, but also in seconds and minutes. They take up your time with the intention of trading it back to you for your money.

Check this out.



My precious wife with her eye contact morality would never ever get out of here, and if she did manage to escape at nightfall (assuming they ever close) we would have to re-mortgage our home to pay for her purchases. Three floors of stalls, selling everything from silk scarves and pearls, to gun scopes and switchblades.

I went by myself today for the first time and it was a learning experience. Despite initially looking forward to it I found myself a bit overwhelmed when I got inside. One guy actually followed me down the hallway desperately trying to get a counter offer out of me on a teapot I was only mildly curious about.. I ended up leaving without any purchases despite my original intent to pick up something for my grandchildren.

But I think I have puzzled out a strategy for next time and will give it a go in another day or so. Generally it means avoidng eye contact until such time as you want to enter into a negotiation. And never, ever asking the price of something until you find an item that you would truly consider buying. Asking the price sets off a converstion that can only end in you having to be very, very rude, or in a purchase. I think that is the mistake I made with the teapot guy. Wish me luck for next time.

Oh and I figured out why they use calculators to tell you the price they want.  It is so that other buyers and other vendors are not privy to the negotiations. Makes sense eh.

Speaking of my precious wife, did you find it as amusing as I did that she posted a comment about waking up and missing me, at the end of a blog in which I referenced e'r'ections?? I better get home before the feeling passes. :)

(swim 45 mins)

...and what about this simple, beautiful quote...

"I cannot afford to waste my time making money."---Louis Agassiz

Love
Peter

"The Top Ten Reasons to Visit Shanghai"

10)  they have good chinese food here
  9)  it reminds me of how lucky I am to not "live" here
  8)  I have lots of friends here...some old and some new
  7)  well actually there aren't 10 good reasons!

....so skip to the number one top reason to visit China

  1)  it's not India!

(weights at the hotel 60 mins)

"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese."---Charles de Gaulle

"Democracy in China is like Viagra; no such thing as free e'r'ections"---George Montgomery

Love
Peter

"It Was a Good Day"

Because it was a learning day....2 things.....

1) Racial and religious tolerance! Or should I say "intolerance"?
When there are a bunch of people drinking, yelling, singing, and just generally making a horrible racket at 2 oclock in the morning in the room next door to you, it doesn't matter if they are Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist or Christian. It doesn't matter if they are Indian, Canadian, German or Chinese. At that time of the night they are just bastards!!

2) I also learned that if you are one of the first people at breakfast to not leave your meal unattended. I returned from refilling my coffee to find a crow eating from my plate!  I laughed my ass off.

"I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma."---Eartha Kitt

...and this one cause I liked it....

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist."---Friedrich Nietzsche

Love
Peter

"Only in India"

Or maybe not only in India, but for sure here at least, it is totally acceptable to eat with your hands....well your right hand at least.  The right hand is considered the clean hand, so I can only speculate on what the other one is used for.  And yes you can eat anything that way no matter how messy.  Kind of cool I suppose but it is so foreign to me I still can't help but watch in amazement. 

And I'm sorry about the near stop my blog has come to, but I have no internet access in the evenings and so I have to sneak in a few words during the day.  Back to work Peter!

"Oh, so they have Internet on computers now!"---Homer Simpson

Love
Peter

"Hello, Goodbye"

No time...lousy Internet connections.

Have a great day/night!

Love
Peter

"Squalor"

I racked my brain to come up with that one word because I thought perhaps it was not as offensive sounding as some others. Then I looked up the definition.

squalid....foul and repulsive, as from lack of care or cleanliness; neglected and filthy, wretched; miserable; degraded, sordid.

Pretty offensive word if I used it about the place you live!

Of course everything is relative so I suppose the Queen of England may consider my home squalid.

I have travelled a fair bit over the last several years including China, South Africa, South America and Mexico.

For some reason my immediate reaction to India is that it is different than all of the above. It seems to have attacked all of my senses in some negative way.

I know I am so naive and so spoiled but I just can't imagine living here.


The hotel website describes a different place than the one I am staying in. The only thing that was accurately represented was the beach.

Of course my perception is exctly that. A very small snapshot of this very large, very diverse country. Apparently Mr Twain knows more than me.

"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked."---Mark Twain

Love
Peter

"Somewhere Between Germany and India"

Love
Peter

"Somewhere Over The Atlantic"

Love
peter

"The Top ten People I Choose to Forgive'

number 10 in the program but number 1 in my heart

#10--the right reverend father Ken Farrell for trying to get his hands in my pants...shame, shame Padre.  He did try to apologize some years later with this statement..."you had to be pretty naive not to know what was going on"....no shit!!!

#9---the right reverend Hawkins who did worse to someone I love, and whose death motivated my dads statement that "the good ones always go first"...again...no shit !!!

#8---my dad for being too wrapped up in his religion to see what should have been obvious signs.  Actually for that, and for making me kneel in the corner, on the concrete floor, with my hands in the air!...no shit!!!

#7---Sister Michaela for slapping me across the face several times in a row for using incorrect grammer, but without any explanation for the slaps...no shit!!!

#6---N.H.  those who know, understand, and for those that don't it was my own stupid fault anyway, for trusting someone so fucked up herself!...no shit!!!

#5---My children who don't really deserve it because they didn't do anything to me, that I, or someone else didn't first model to them...but I forgive them anyway...no shit!!!

#4---Dr Hammond and his cancer machine.  Again he doesn't deserve it because he only did to me what I asked for.  I am however a little angry about not understanding the lifelong side effects better, so I do need someone to forgive....no shit!!!

#3---The guy from the Burford hich school wrestling team who knocked my very first tooth out some 40 years ago, which is why I have a bridge today that gets a little less dependable every year....no shit!!!

#2---Oprah Winfrey for letting Dr Phil out of whatever zoo the man belongs in!  What a freak!...no shit!!!

...and the number one person I choose to forgive remains a bigger challenge than all previous nine combined.  Why?  Because with those nine offenders I know of a few transgression that they committed, but this persons crimes are all in my head....each and every one of them!  No exceptions!  And the list is numerous.  It covers every gamet of life from childhood stupidity with his siblings, through his working career with co-workers, through his children, his spouse, through law and government, not to mention all the monstrous things he did to himself!  This guy has done it all to as many people as he can count.  Yes it's tough to forgive this guy but I wish to try despite my familiarity with his crimes.  Wish me luck.

#1---Myself...Yup!  No Shit!!

(24 km run 2:09,  very very tough today)

"To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you."---Lewis B smedes

"He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love."---Martin Luther King Jr

"God will forgive me.  It's his job".---Heinrich Heine

Love
Peter

"How's the Training Going?"

Not bad actually.  At least it seemed that way until I just figured out that we're almost down to 9 months to go!  Scary actually how the time disappears.

But still I think I'm okay.  The focus needs to be technical swim improvement, power workouts on the bike combined with weight training, and of course winter is the time to concentrate on running endurance.

While it hasn't translated into long or fast workouts yet I am slowly gaining a better feel in the water.  One thing I figured out is that the 2 beat kick I was working on is simply not possible for me without a wetsuit, and I don't think it has much advantage when wearing one.  I am now focusing on building a steady but quiet traditional kick, while improving my form and arm strength/endurance.  I think with this strategy I will be able to shave some minutes off of  the last effort.

Weight training also goes well and my upper body strength is already way ahead of 2009.  I actually have to be careful not to start building bulk.  It's tough because for the first time in my life I have arms that play to my ego.  My core strength is improving as well, from the back and abdomen stuff that I do.  Overall I feel stronger than I have at any time during my 56 years.  Weird eh?

While my cycling mileage has of course gone way down I think the trainer is gonna make me stronger.  I have made some significant changes in my position which is much easier to dowith the machine because I can actually see my power output change with body position, and I can see my actual position in the mirror.  The idea is to get as aero as you can, while giving up as little power as possible. These 2 factors are usually at odds, so it takes some time to find the sweet spot.  I think I'm close.  To give you some idea as to how much more difficult it is to ride on the trainer I give you this example.  While riding down a simulated hill I had to work my butt off to get it up to 50 km/hr, a speed I would have exceeded by simply coasting down the same real hill.

I had a quick look back at my running progress and it is very encouraging.  Over the last 2 months I have progressed from running 15k at 5:30 pace to running 20k at 5:00 pace.  Very cool.  Tomorrow I will step the distance up to 24 kms and cut back the pace.  Then I will gradually try to build my pace back up to 5:00 at that distance and so on. I still have not found a spring marathon that I like but I think I need to.  That strategy worked well in 09 so I want to stick with it to keep me motivated through the winter. 

So overall I feel pretty good.  The only thing I wish I knew how to still improve is my body composition.  Roo tells me that it's only skin but I know better, and I desperately want to lose another 5 kg of fat!  Any ideas on how to get off this plateau?

I leave on my world tour on sunday (germany, india, singapore, china)and while I'm pretty sure that it will cause me some stress I don't think it will be too much of a setback in the long run.  Rest is good!

I have not arrived at a specific time goal yet, or at least one that I am ready to preach to the world.  I do indeed have a number in my head, but I'm still not sure that I have the couarge to achieve it.  I actually do believe that my body is capable of it, if I truly want to do the work necessary.  It's a bit of a quandry becaause going public will almost gaurantee success because of my ego, but that would mean I would no longer have a choice as to do the work or not.  Any thoughts on that one?

(swim 1500 metres, computrainer 3o kms, weights)

"The purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit."---Morihei Ueshib

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ''Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.''---Muhammed Ali

Love
Peter

"Another Day, Another Dollar"

Unfortunately I have been developing some bad habits lately.  It seems like I worked all damn day again!  Or at least I feel that way. 
I promise to not let this tendency get the better of me.  Talk to you tomorrow.

I like this one...

“We get so much in the habit of wearing disguises before others that we finally appear disguised before ourselves."---Francois de la Rochefoucauld

And this one also very cool...

“Whenever you are angry, be assured that it is not only a present evil, but that you have increased a habit"---Epictetus

And still my favorite habit quote....

"Cultivate only the habits that you are willing should master you"---Elbert Hubbard

Love
peter

"A Little Sob Story"

That may interest you, or it may bore you.  At the very least I hope it makes you feel a little sorry for me.  What else would be the point of telling it eh?

I do think it may educate you a little. I know I have learned a lot of stuff that I don't really want to know.

It is a little story about a big word;  "osteoradionecrosis",  where osteo stands for bone, radio for radiotherapy and necrosis for cell death.  I first heard the word from the dentists at Victoria Hospital before my radiation treatments.

When bone is exposed to radiation it's vascular capacity is siginifcantly reduced....by as much as 90%.  That's not that big a deal in and of itself since my body is done growing anyway.  Also since it's just my face the bone doesn't have to bear any weight.

The big osteoradionecrosis threat comes into play only when the bone suffers any trauma and has to heal itself.  With limited blood flow to the traumatized area that healing simply does not take place and the bone may actually begin to die. 

So what trauma you may ask.  Sadly tooth extraction is the most common culprit, and I now have 2 of them that have to be removed.  One because it is broken right through the root, and another because of an abscess.  And as much as Michael says I don't need so many molars, I must tell you my son that the 4 you had removed I also had extracted years ago....so this means 2 more.

But! There is a positve side.  The best  hope of avoiding the problem is through the application of something called Hyberbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) and I am on the list for the treatment.  What it amounts to is inhaling pure oxygen for 2-3 hours hours while inside a pressurized chamber.  The typical protocol for someone in my situation is 5 days a week for 6 weeks!!  Holy cow! The teeth would be pulled about 4 weeks into the treatments.  They claim that this procedure significantly improves the tissues ability to take up oxygen and thus encourages healing.

It looks something like this even though it is not the actual one.  The thing I will find hard is that you are not even allowed to bring a book inside.  Apparently turning pages can cause sparks and if that happens in a pure oxygen environment, you no longer need to worry about the osteoradionecrosis! 




The frustrating part is the wait.  There are only 3 facilities  in Ontario that provide this treatment and it has already been 3 months since my referral. They project another month.  While I am extremely grateful for our social health system the businessman in me wants to scream out loud.  The limiting factor is the chamber itself and of course they cost a small fortune.  Guess what?  They operate the machines for 8 hours a day,  monday to friday!!!  Un-freakin-believable!!  Pissin away our hard earned tax dollars because there is no incentive for anyone to actually make effective use of all those capital dollars!!  So stupid!!
For me the closest chamber is at Hamilton General and so I will also spend 3 to 4 hours on the road every day. 

Oh well.  C'est la vie!....pun intended.  As long as  I get a little sympathy.

(computrainer 30 kms)

I'll tell you where to find sympathy. It's in the dictionary between shit and syphillis."---Anon

Love
Peter

"Pain"

My toothache analogy of last week came home to roost, so to speak. An abscessed molar with no way to save it. I'm falling apart! Shit!

(7.3 km run, weights)

"Some tortures are physical,
And some are mental,
But the one that is both,
Is dental"---Ogden Nash

Love
Peter

"A Sigh of Relief"

And a very loud one...heard at York County Hospital in Newmarket, Ontario at about 6 am, 56 years ago today. The sigh was heard in the waiting room of the obstetrics ward, and was quickly followed by hugs and boisterous celebration.

Fast forward about 18 years when the sigh of relief was repeated, and then quickly followed by hugs and boisterous celebration beyond anything ever witnessed by man or god!

The first celebration and feelings of gratitude were triggered by the knowledge that the procession of girl babies into the Rooyakkers household had been at least temporarily halted. No ultrasound back then to give you any advance notice so you can imagine how special the moment must have been. After 9 months of living with the fear that the evil triplets may become quadruplets, to have that boom go unlowered must have indeed been wonderful. Frits and Petra welcomed, not just their first boy child, but an especially attractive, and as would be proven over the years, gifted, and intelligent child

The second round of mutual congratulations was motivated by the sad departure of that same prodigy from his home of 18 years. It seems that the evil triplets had maliciously, but ever so subtly been manipulating their parents feelings towards the young man, such that they were actually happy to see him leave.

Bitches!

All in good fun ofcourse. Although I did have a few run ins with my 3 older sisters over the years, I'm pretty sure that I was usually the one at fault, and in any case it don't freakin matter. And while there can be little doubt that both sighs of relief actually took place, I also believe that I came full circle with both of my parents before they made their way on.

Fast forward one more time to today. I think my Mom would be exclusively proud of me because Moms tend to be that way, while Dad would encourage me to keep doing things right, but with his usual qualifier that there may still be opportunities for improvement. I would accept both of their attitudes.

And in my efforts to follow Dad's advice I propose to use the triplets as my role models.  What do you think?

(7.3 km run, 1000 metre swim)

"It takes a long time to grow young"---Pablo Picasso

Love
Peter

"Time Out"

I feel a little like this guy!



(30 kms computrainer) (swim 1000 metres)

“Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming ... WOW! What a ride!"---Anon

Love
Peter

"Old and Stupid"

Or is that stupid and old, since the stupid came first!

I don't think I ever really considered myself stupid in the traditional sense of the word .  While I ain't no Einstein I think I have managed to put at least an average amount of my brain cells to use over the years.  How then do you explain that I've done so many stupid things over those same years?

I'm pretty sure I know.  While one part of my brain has the ability to reason out what should be done next, and also how to do it , there's always another part telling me that there must be a short cut.  Of all the dumb things that have happened to me (or that the devil did to me) I think that 90 percent of them happened because I hurried something.

Enevitably those short cuts ended up in property damage, or personal injury, or both!.  Being a fairly handy guy, the property damage, while frustrating, was usually fixable one way or another.  Personal injury, at least when it was my own was also not that big a deal because my dutch farmboy heritage has blessed me with a reasonably resilient pyhsical self.....or at least when I was younger.

How things have changed!   I continue to be able to fix most things I break, but the old bones just can't handle the same abuse.  Stupid and old are a bad combination apparently.

Today was a great example. 

I needed to start the dirt bike to put it away for the winter.  It needed quite a few kicks to get it going which I was doing with only crocs on my feet.  I quickly realized that that wasn't too bright, so after a few failed attempts I went inside to get a proper pair of shoes on.  I was actually quite proud of my patience at this point.  I went back out and after an extended effort got her fired up.  I then parked it outside to warm up and headed back in to the shop.  Less than  minute later it stalled.

Since it was already warmed up I knew from experience that it would start easily.  No need even to straddle the bike.  I could just stomp on the kick start standing beside the thing!  Whoops!

My foot slipped off the side of the lever, ripped the side completely out of my shoe and left, a big painful elongated bruise on my right instep. 

I went running anyway I now it really feakin hurts.  I'm goin to the liquor store!

Speaking of running I think I need to back off a bit.  I did the same 20 k as last week at very close to the same pace, but my heart rate was too high the entire time.  The theory says that you have to be patient in the endurance part of your training such that you can gradually go further and faster at the same heart rate, and thereby with the same energy expenditure.  If you try to push that too fast you will simply plateau.  Sounds like another shortcut lesson I still need to learn.

And finally on old and stupid.  I don't see the old part changing into anything other than "older", so I'm gonna have to focus on the stupid part.  Wish me luck family!  Genetics are hard to overcome  :)

(Run 20kms, 1:39:40)

"We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid."---Benjamin Franklin

"Every one desires to live long, but no one would be old."---Abraham Lincoln

Love
Peter

"Tomorrow's Another Day"

All work today!  No time for training or blogging!  That's just bullshit!
Five hours driving and another 8 hours meeting and I am exhausted!
Amazing that days with no exercise leave me so much more tired.
I can't wait for tomorrow tomorrows run to breathe some life back into this old carcass.

"Nothing will work unless you do."---Maya Angelou

Love
Peter

"Unique Skills"

Let's see you do this!



No!  Not stick your tongue out!  Any idiot can do that!

And no!  Not balance a life saver on the end of it.  I would be willing to bet that most of you are even capable of that!

But how many of you can run for 51 mins or 10.3 kilometres, and come back with the same lifesaver you popped in your mouth before you left?

Pretty amazing eh?  I'm a talented guy!  Just another wonderful fringe benefit of my brief but glorious fling with Dr Hammonds fancy radiation machine!

I bet you are happy to know that my tongue can actually do something special other than wag eh?  Please don't be too jealous. Not everyone can be as gifted as me....or is that I?

(run 10.3 kms, 51 mins)

"Before the tongue can speak, it must have lost the power to wound."---Peace Pilgrim

"I asked Mom if I was a gifted child... she said they certainly wouldn't have paid for me."---Anon

Love

Peter

"Going Good"

Or is that going well? Who knows? Who Cares?

My training that is. I feel like I'm getting in a groove. Most days I am doing at least 2 workouts of some kind and overall I don't fell too stressed about it. For the last 2 days in a row I swam 1500 metres continuously which is an early breakthrough. Only with my wetsuit, or with pull buoys but I really don't care. Also I can do my previous Ironman pace over the 1500 metres now, so I know that by the end of the year I will be back to where I was in 2009, and I will still have lots of time to improve from there. I'm also pleased to report that the weight room is gradually getting less tedious and in actual fact I think I am already stronger than I was last time. I am convinced that riding the trainer all winter will make me a better rider. In 2009 I still had to use the machine downtown and so I wasn't quite as consistent as I can be now. Plus having my own machine allows me to get is set up properly to get the most out of it. I already mentioned that running continues well so onwards and upwards!

I have mixed feelings about the world tour I leave for on the 20th, 10 days in India and China. Mixed feelings because I feel on a roll, and yet the break may be a good thing as well. It gives the body a chance to absorb all the hard work and get ready for another spurt. We'll see how it goes.

And that's about it for today. Instead of spending time planning my post I was surfing the net for George Carlin material, motiveted by the funny monologue Mike posted yesterday. Check it out.

(swim 1500 metres) (computrainers 30 kms) (weights)

You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset'"---Tony Hopkins

"The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."---George carlin

Love
Peter

"No Pain No Gain--Revisited"

I'm sitting on the trainer yesterday thinking this is just like having a toothache.  Not the excruciating pain you may feel hitting yourself in the kneecap with a hammer, but a lingering, mind numbing kind of pain that won't go away.  So I tried  to do some mental exercises to pass the time away. Some math basically.  First I converted 112 mile into kilometres by multiplying by 1.609 and got it right to 3 decimal places.  Then I converted 2.4 miles into kilometres and again got it bang on.  The last one was a bit trickier as I had to do a bit of rounding and I was out by 5 seconds.  The challenge was to convert a swim pace of 9 mins, 15 seconds per 500 metres, into a total time for 3.86 kms.

Of course unlike the toothache of my analogy I could have ended it all by just getting off the bike and using my calculator.  But I'm not that kind of guy.  I am definitely the "no pain, no gain" kind of guy and I don't mind the reality of that.  I am not afraid to to the short term things that I need to do, to get the long term rewards I want, and know, I will get.  As I processed that awareness I could back it up with many examples in my life, not the least of which is my triathlon training.  I thought of things like the long hard hours I put in at my work over the years, the energy I put into taking care of our home and property, and the reading and studying I have done to try to improve my mental capacity.

But then.....I realized there was a significant example in my life in which I did not live by my philosophy, and it was the helping/enabling issue I talked about 2 days ago.  Why is it so hard for me to do the short term painful things I need to do for my kids, in order that they may become the persons they are most capable of being over the long haul?  And I soon discovered the answer.  Unlike riding the trainer, digging a trench, or studying a difficult technical manual, the pain of saying 'tough luck' to my children does not go away once the activity is over.  It lingers like an untreated toothache.

Unfortunately just understanding the difference does not change the reality and that is why I bought the book.  While it is indeed helping me, it is in itself a bit painful because it spells out a  lot of truths I don't want to hear.  I will of course finish it because I know I need to.  NO PAIN-NO GAIN.

But the book did give me a great smile, the contradiction I mentioned yesterday.  The author, Allison Bottke is an intelligent, educated, articulate woman who speaks from personal experience.  Somewhere during her dark times she was "saved" or "born again" or some other such miracle transformation, and unfortunately this results in advice that is more than just slightly "christianized"  That's ok though  as I can skip through those parts to get to the good stuff, and not let it get to me.  Whatever makes your hair blow back is good with me.  It does amaze me however how this intelligent person can spend the first several chapters of the book "preaching" self responsibility on all accounts, for all parties, and then give us this.

""And surely any knowledgeable parent--particularly a Christian parent --will have to acknowledge the reality and powerful influence of evil.  As Christains we understand Satan's ability to corrupt and destroy a human life" 

I'm glad to know that "The Devil Made Me Do It"  is still an acceptable last resort cop-out if you have exhausted all other excuses!!

(Swim, 1500 metres, run 7.2 kms)


“It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui."---Helen keller

"Calvin: Do you believe in the devil? You know, a supreme evil being dedicated to thetemptation, corruption, and destruction of man? Hobbes: I'm not sure that man needs the help"

Love
Peter

"No Pain No Gain"

I wrote about 3 sentences on my theme and then backspaced and said screw it!  I feel mentally drained and I know I wouldn't do the whole thing justice.  Tomorrow's another day!

John....it's called Setting Boundaries with Your Adult Children.  I don't like everything in it but if you cherry pick a little there is some good stuff.  I'll tell you more about it tomorrow because I think I caught the author in the most hilarious contradiction.  And thanks for your ongoing suppport.  You make me smile and laugh!

(computrainer, 60 kms--2hrs, 11 mins)

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday."---John Wayne

"He hoped and prayed that there wasn't an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn't an afterlife."---Douglass Adams

Love

peter

"Eastern Standard Time"

What did you do with your extra hour?  Me, I stayed in bed!  And I'm gonna do the same thing next spring when they tell me to get up an hour earlier!  Who ever invented this time shifting stupidity, and how did so many people fall for it?  The mennonites know how dumb it is, and for some reason so do the inhabitants of Arizona, USA, and Sonora, Mexico.  Must be some mennonites there as well.

Anyway, I think I put my hour to good use.  I used it to do some soul searching and found my self lacking in a key area.  I don't want to concede this completely but I think that maybe I've given myself a bit too much credit as a parent.  Parents are supposed to love their kids unconditionally and I don't believe I have always done that.  They are also supposed to put their kids welfare ahead of their own and in a mixed up kind of way I haven't done that either.  Let me explain.  Let me put a little of my inside, on my outside. 

When our kids are hurting it is instinct to try to make them feel better.  Why is that?  Maybe because we hurt so bad when they hurt, that in fact we are trying to end our own pain.  Is this indeed then putting their welfare ahead of our own?   At best you could say that it's a tie, and if indeed everyone feels better after the fix then I guess it is at least a win-win.  But what about when the pain they are experiencing is for their own good,  or at the very least simply part of their "growing up", and we still try to fix it?  Now whos welfare are we putting first?

I have told every one of my children time and time again, that often you have to experience a little discomfort in the short haul, to achieve the growth and the satisfaction in life that you want over the long haul.

Some guy I am to give such advice!!  Today it hit me like a ton of bricks that I have frequently avoided the short term pain that comes with seeing my kids unhappy.  I often become the "fixer", and in doing so have created longer term anxiety both for me and my kids. 

I'm going to try to do better.  I'm going to try to love my kids a little harder by being a little bit tougher.  Tougher on myself that is.  I'm going to try to analyze better before I jump to the rescue.  Determine if I am truly helping or just enabling.in an attempt to alleviate my own pain.  I think I owe them that....each and every one of them.

The book explains the difference between helping and enabling this way.  Helping is doing for someone, something they can not do for themselves.  Enabling is doing for them something that they could, and/or should be doing for themselves.  The hard part of course is making the distinction, but I can tell you with some confidence that I have done numerous things for my kids that clearly fall under the enabling definition.  While I acknowledge that it won't be easy, I must do better.  Try Not!

I actually find this bit of introspection quite intriguing.  Why am I like this?  Nature?  My mother would have crawled through a mine field to dry her kids tears.  Or is that nurture?  Either way I like it!  I'm gonna blame my dear, sweet, sainted mother for being too good to me. 

Damn I miss you Mom!!

So that's what I did with my hour.  For all you people out there who have always known what I needed 55 years of time changes to figure out, be kind to me.  After all, I'm an idiot!
Besides, being open about ones shortcomings is not always so easy....at least for me

(swim, 1200 metres)  (weights)

"Parents often talk about the younger generation as if they didn't have anything to do with it."---Haim Ginott

"If there is anything that we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is not something that could better be changed in ourselves. "---C.G. Jung

Love
peter

"Cool Running"

Just perfect actually!  About 3 degrees with clear skies.  I can still wear shorts and a light, long sleeved top.  I do wear gloves at this temperature cause there's nothing worse than cold hands.  All that translated into a very good 20 kilometers today.

After 3 false starts!  The first time I only got as far as the garage before I realized my runmeter wasn't working correctly.  The second time I got as far as the road and actually started jogging before I realized that I didn't have my lifesaver.  Yes literally a lifesaver candy. Without one of them or something like it my mouth will be so dry I will be gagging in 5 minutes.  The third time I got to the road again before I realized that I didn't have my sunglasses on.  I had taken them off in the house to find the lifesaver!

I suggested to Roo that maybe I have early onset Alzheimers but  she said,  "no, you're just stupid!"  I suppose it don't really matter which though, because neither of them are curable.

You know what's a really cool feeling?  Going to bed at night with anticipation, because you know that tomorrow is your long run day.  To actually be looking forward to getting up to go and run 20 kilometres!  Yes, very cool!

Anyway, I really like where I'm at with my running.  Today I went under 5 min kilometres for my 20k, which is exactly where I want to stay.  The plan going forward will be to try to maintain that pace (and the effort) while extending the distance. 

And that's it for today folks.  Enjoy your saturday evening.

20 km run---1hr, 39 mins!!!

"If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise."---P.Z. Pearce

Love
Peter

"Just For You Mikey"

I've been thinking about this post for some time; in actual fact ever since Mike told me that the blog was getting a bit boring a few weeks ago.  So just for you my son, I deliver some thoughts around two of your favorite topics, politics and society, and a specific interaction between them

For the political portion I choose as my subject your all time hero, none other than Mr Stephen Harper!  And for the related social issue I pick one of my favorites; drug addiction in western society.

The focus of my thoughts is a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling regarding a safe injection facility in the downtown east side of Vancouver BC. That particularr area of Vancouver is considerd one of the worst examples of Canadas injection drug epidemic.  In very simple terms, Insite, as it is known, is a place where drug users can not be prosecuted for injecting themselves with their own drugs.  It is a legalized, supervised injection site, and the only one of it's kind in North America.  Besides providing safe injection the facility's primary focus is on getting people into treatment, and in fact functions as a referral service.   It also provides basic health care for its "users"!

The court unanimously told the federal government to go blow in their attempts to shut it down.  The entire issue only arrived at  the Supreme Court in the first place because the federal govermnent chose to appeal all lower court decisions which had already told them to go blow!

The facility has at various times been supported by most local and provinical politiicans, and even publicly by a chief of police.  Here's why.  There is conclusive evidence that the facility:

Has increased referrals to health and social programs.
Has reduced overdose fatalities
Has reduced the transmission of blood-borne infections like HIV and Hepatitis C
Has reduced injection-related infections
Has improved public order

Further to those positive aspects, the Supreme Court's ruling contained the following statement issued by chief justice Beverly McLachlin:

"Insite saves lives. Its benefits have been proven. There has been no discernable negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada during its eight years of operation."

At this point in my post I was going to make an objective supporting argument for this project but I decided to let you form your own opinion.  The only thing I wish to do is give you this impassioned statement, something I believe it in my heart and in my soul. 

"Ninety nine percent of all hard core drug users do not want to be addicts!  They do not want to be sick!  They do not want their hair to fall out, their teeth to rot, their veins to collapse and their bones to become brittle.  They do not want to lie and steal, nor do they want to beg or prostitute themselves.  They don't want to starve to death and they don't want to kill themselves or others.. They want to have a chance to get better.  Insite at least keeps a few of them alive a bit longer in order that they even have a chance. Drug addicts are no different than the chronic smoker with lung cancer, the overweight person with diabetes, the  underweight person with anorexia, the alcoholic with liver disease, or the "supersize it" guy with heart disease.  "

Now you may ask how Michaels buddy comes into all this other then just being the head of the aforementioned federal government?  Well let me tell you.  His party has  for several years been trying to no avail to shut the place down.  The reason thay have not been able to do so, is because it has way too much support from provincial politicians and by the people of Vancouver.  A poll suggest that approximately 75% of Vancouverites support the facility. Why then do you suppose that Mr Harper and his cronie Mr Clement (Federal Minsister of Health), wish to shut it down?  For me Mr Harpers comment in response to the Supreme Court ruling says it all and I quote, "Yes, we're disappointed.  We have a different agenda"

I'll tell you what Mr Harper's agenda is.  I think it is undeniable!  He chooses to disregard all of the evidence because his agenda is not the health and safety of Canadians, his agenda is re-election!!!

In closing I give you this. Whatever you may think of the whole concept that Insite represents it seems to me that any decisions around it should be based solely on the medical and social evidence, not on politics and not on social stigma.

I wonder what Mr Harpers stance would be on the London Regional Cancer Program if he thought it would get him a few votes to shut it down?

7.3 km run, 35 mins

"If Ottawa giveth, then Ottawa can taketh away."---Stephen Harper

Love
Peter

"A Little Frayed"

Just around the edges though.
It was just one of those days!
Up early for work!  Webex with India. That's always weird
Drove the kids to school cause I like to give them a break.  The stupid way they do it here is that they reverse the school bus route morning and night, and as a result some kids spend 10 mins on the bus each way, and others spend 45!  Insane! Of course ours have the long ride.
Back home for follow up work.
Rode the hardest 30 kms of the Ironman course on the trainer...22kms/hr!!...man I felt old and tired
Lunch....leftovers but okay
To the pool with my wetsuit...first I put a big tear in it!  F%#K!!!!
Back home to watch the garge door opener blow a cable!
Back out to TSC to get a part and back home to fix the opener.
Back into the basement to do my weights.
Supper....fish and green beans....I eat a lot of both.
Glue my wetsuit.  Hope it holds.
And lastly a few minutes to write this little whine!

Oh and every stinkin second in between all those activites I was worrying about one or the other of my children.  That's what's really got me frayed around the edges!!

Anyway...I'm done!
...in the immortal words of Red Skelton...
"good night and may god bless"

(computrainer 30kms)  (swim 1200 metres) (weights)

p.s. A few corrections pointed out by my readers. Good catch Betty....I changed "park" to "drive", and Mikey, I'm gonna go change "man" to "human" right now! Love you both for keeping me to a standard! Try Not!!

"God's children and their happiness are my reasons for being."---Red Skelton

Love
Peter

"The Top Ten Ways to Tell You're an Idiot"

#10  Your last name is, and/or, was Rooyakkers

# 9.  You leave your truck in drive when you get out of it just to be able to watch it drve through the closed garage door and into the back of your wife's car!

#  8.  When you are one of the middle pullers in a tug of war you wrap the rope once around yourself just to get a better grip!

#  7  You book a trip around the world in the middle of your ironman training just because you think it would be cool to see India, Thailand and China again

#  6  You figure a barn full of hay is a decent place to test your fire building skills!

#  5  You figure that taunting an entire university wrestling team with one of your mothers home made apple pies would be good fun!

#  4  You jump into a near bottomless lake 3000 kms from home wearing your only pair of glasses!

#  3  You disregard the hornets nest right above your head while you busy yourself with pulling down your fly to take a pee!

#  2  You hold a 600 volt switch in your bare hands to test a machine, and ask your little brother to hit the power!

...and the number one way to tell you're an idiot...

#  1  You forget to check that the pilot light is actually out before you crack the gas line to bleed it!

Yup....those are all idiot moments compliments of yours truly.  Well except for number 10.   That one is hereditary!

I also feel like an idiot when it comes to this swimming  stuff.  Today I thought I was getting the hang of it with my wetsuit on, but as soon as I took it off I felt like a rock again.  I watch the videos of other people and it looks so effortless.  I can't keep my body parallel in the water without  a great deal of exhausting work.  I do have a theory that I have very dense bone structure and combined with my lean lower body composition it may be an excuse.   Right now I'm not sure where to turn.  I am considering just working out with my wetsuit, and yet somehow that seems like cheating.  I worry that it is not the wise long term approach overall.  Any experts out there? 

(10.3 km run, 51 mins) (swim 45 mins)

"He was a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher... or, as his wife would have it, an idiot."--- Douglas Adams

"There's nothing more dangerous than a resourceful idiot."---Scott Adams

"I'm a one-man idiot."---Eddie Izzard

Love
Peter

"A Message From God"

He said, "Peter, you're a good guy and you deserve a break. If you're too tired to write much of anything tonite that's okay."

He sent me this message indirectly since we don't usually talk face to face on tuesdays, but since we are quite close I got the message clearly anyway. We have an internet service here that is so pathetic that it only ever works decently through divine intervention, so when he chose to let it be even worse than usual I understood what he wanted. "Keep it short" So, not being a guy to question the higher power, that's about it for me.

But, you know what  my friends? You may find this weird but the more I bash religion the more I realize that I am drawing closer to god. If in the process I have offended anyone all I can say is, that this was not my intent. I just happen to believe that I am as qualified to talk to the man as anyone that wears a collar, or a robe, and that my kitchen table is no more removed from his presence than any cathedral, mosque or synagogue.

Also as I grow closer to god, my appreciation for my fellow human grows accordingly, especially for those of you close to me. My wish for all of you today is that you feel as blessed as I do, and that you may all live a life as charmed as mine seems to be. Peace be with you my friends and family.

30 kms computrainer, 1 hr 5 mins

"Every day people are starting to drift away from the church and going back to God"---Lenny Bruce

"I have never understood why it should be derogatory to the creator to suppose that he has a sense of humour"---William Ralph Inge

"When you knock, ask to see god, none of the servants"---Henry David Thoreau

Love
Peter