A deal so nice I bought it twice.

Turns out that Killzone 3 is on clearance at Toys "R" Us, so I picked up 2 copies in another attempt to step up my weak PS3 game diversify my game collection. One copy is actually for Jon so stop calling me a hoarder bro.

So I'm at the store yesterday, parking in the expecting mothers spot and as I'm getting out of the car some lady with an umbrella is all of a sudden right up in my personal space talking to me with some heavy accent that I can't really understand.

It was so startling that I thought I was being mugged, or even worse raped, so I was ready to throw a 1-2-roundhouse kick to the face combo c/o YMCA boxfit classes. Turns out she was just aggressively harassing me for money to support her "children", which she explained to me by shoving a piece of paper in my face. Back up lady.

I'm sure that if you had the time to solicit a toy store parking lot all day, startle unsuspecting customers, parents with their children and badass gamers then it's probably way more effective than just trying to get any sort of job somewhere.

What actually scared me most was that I thought she was going to hate on my car as soon as I turned my back just for rejecting her (btw, even more car bs happened to me lately x2). But in my defense I didn't want to reach into my coin can (while she's hovering over me like that) to grab some change because I actually have like a whole bunch of emergency 5s in it (to use in any other situation than that), and I thought she would see them, claw my face out and then grab my can.

Since I thought she was going to spear my car with her umbrella I was sort of looking at her as I was walking away, but low and behold, she was already onto the next poor sap.

Hey lady, maybe if you didn't sneak up on people before they even got out of their car or freak out their little children who just want to look at some Zhu Zhu Pets, then you'd have better luck. Or at least back the hell up...



I didn't really park in the expectant mother spot...

Dragon boat paddling leg position blues...

Since Swordfish is officially done with their season (and we even had our end of season party already) I ended up extending my own by subbing in for another team who's short for Stratford. I was out on the (gross) Credit River with them last night and decided to try out a few different things...

Leg position is one of those bits where a lot of people have different styles/techniques - both legs forward, inside leg tucked under the seat, outside leg back - all sorts of nonsense that may or may not work. The most important thing is that you can use your legs to help you push off and pull that water. I find that it's one of those things where a lot of coaches don't mention it too often or tell you to do what's comfortable, so kind of a grey area.

Since the begging of my illustrious dragon boat career I've been one of those both legs forward guys, since that's the way I was taught then. I mean initially I used to put my inside leg back because it was easier, but I quickly switched to that double leg and have stuck with it since. The hardest part about settling into that was getting through those weird ass quad/groin pains from driving your legs while twisting and pushing off in that position. It felt awkward, but it's all gravy now (I guess).

Anyhow, I had a pretty intense practice on Sunday with BB, and since I've been out of practice for a few weeks my leg muscles were just straight hurting. So during yesterday's practice I decided to try out some different positions to give my groin a rest change it up. Here's what I made of it...

I can tell you what doesn't work: gunnel leg back, inside leg forward. There's no push-a-bility with that kind of position. I think it's pretty much counter productive to the whole A-frame, twist and open your chest so you can reach forward...basically your entire stroke. By facing outwards you're already decreasing your reach by a ton and pulling water inward towards the boat instead of parallel to it. Sure you can get outside the boat easier but not in the way you want to.

With both legs forward you get really get that leg drive, but you have to work really hard with that twist. Leaning outside the boat is also tougher (if you got pathetic lats like me), but it's easier to get that top hand over the side too for a nice perpendicular stroke. Your legs are huge muscles that you should put to work, so losing one or the other is something I would have to get used to.

With the inside leg back, gunnel leg forward you can really lean out of the boat and reach forward, but you only have that one leg to drive with. My arms got way more tired this way and it was tougher to get that top hand outside and perpendicular to the boat, although the stroke felt much longer. I've gone to this position a couple of times when the boat was really light or we were opposite side heavy, since it's easier to reach down.

What completely doesn't work is both legs back, so don't even try it. I dunno, just boring dragon boat stuff to think about for next year. Choose your weapon...or not.

On a different note, I haven't really thought about it but I'd say that Photosynth is just a mobile version of Microsoft ICE, which works very well and is also conveniently free.



Turns out Photosynth works even better after the latest update.



Microsoft on your iPhone? Blasphemy!



GWN and Stratford to go. I want at least one more medal...

Promag Archangel Marauder Assembly

So I finally got a chance to put my tacticool project together, and it was a relatively painless process for a guy who has never owned a 10/22 before. The only tools you need are a screwdriver, some allen keys and a 1/8" punch and some hammers.



The hardest part was actually removing the sights without marring the barrel...which I failed to do. The sights are held in via dove tail and are removed left to right, so I basically removed the bolt/trigger and laid the receiver with ejector side facing down on a 2X4 and then hammered away. If you hammered in the other direction then congratulations - you've made it tighter!

I have to admit that it took way more force than I was expecting. The didn't gradually come off but more or less dropped out at some point. It felt sketchy to say the least and I hope I didn't bend the barrel somehow. The sights are intact but the left side of them are brutalized...

Fortunately, if I ever need to go back to irons I'll buy better ones, and the stock/fake cans cover both. No big deal.



The kit also includes extended bolt and magazine releases which need to be installed as well. I don't exactly like the stock bolt release of the 10/22 so I was extra happy to learn that the replacement had the auto bolt release mod done to it already. Pressing the stock one up to release the bolt is a pain, so that was very welcome

On the left: the original parts, and on the right: the replacements. You can see in the top right, the replacement bolt release has that jagged edge filed down to curve - that's the auto bolt release mod.

The way it works is when you have the bolt locked back, instead of having to pull the bolt back and push the release up in order to bring the bolt forward, you can just pull back and it'll fall forward automatically. Super convenient.



This is what the original trigger assembly looks like - pop all the pins except for the one holding the trigger in and everything else will fall out. Just put in the new parts and you're done. Actually easier than it sounds and lots of YT resources.



With the extensions installed, you can see what difference it makes. It's also a necessary mod if you ever want to release your magazine or lock your bolt while in that larger stock, heh.

Pin it back into the receiver and you're ready to drop it into the stock.



All in all it wasn't too bad. The stock itself is pretty sturdy but a very tight fit once the receiver is placed in. I had to take a rubber mallet to it a couple of times, but I suppose that's better than it being loose and jiggling instead.

Here's the magazine with sleeve that comes with the kit - the sleeve is purely cosmetic but really changes the look. 25 rounds of goodness and I'll have to pick up at least 2 more once they start flooding into Canada. In comparison, the Butler Creek mags look kinda awkward on the stock without the sleeve.



Original stock. Boring.



Here's the finished product with a foregrip and cheap Tasco red dot. It's pretty heavy and the red dot is a bit high for my round and chubby face, but it could be worse.

The only thing I'm not too sure about is the flash suppressor. It slides over the front sight and comes with a metal pin to lock it in, but mine fits loosely as in it jiggles around a bit. It kind of bugs me, so I'll most likely have to put some loctite in addition to the pin, but I'm not sure if it'll ever be able to come off after that...

Update: The instructions tell you what to do with the fake cans, go figure (I'm a moran). They're more or less permanent. I might switch to the fake silencer because it's plastic and potentially easier to remove (aka just destroy it).



I can't wait to take this thing to the range...

UPDATE #1: My magazine does not feed properly, if at all. The rounds don't get pushed up past the feed lips so they can chamber and it's more or less unusable. The "fix" is to lightly sand the inside of the mag so the follower can travel more easily, but damn son. What a disappointment. Guess I'll have to use the Butler Creeks...


UPDATE #2: CLICK HERE for more info on magazine and speed loader.

The Toronto Zoo: So furry...and delicious.

First of all let me just say that the zoo is kind of a depressing place. While there are some animals who have pretty baller cages habitats, there are some who are confined to a small space, just laying in their own poop and staring at a wall. It kind of breaks my heart and we should just eat those animals and get it over with.



Since I haven't busted out the SLR in a few months, having it make my neck sweaty over the weekend got me thinking about pictures and video and dragon boat and traveling. The reason I like to catch stuff on film is so that I can eventually torture and embarrass my kids later on in life, and also because my memory is just straight terrible.

While it would be nice if one of my pictures or videos went viral somehow, what matters is that I can share it with my family, friends and even myself to check out if they want to...but not keep them some creepy personal archive that nobody ever gets to see (some most of the time).

PICS OR IT NEVER HAPPENED



I know that I'm not the only one because no matter where you go nowadays you'll see some dude with a camera hanging from their neck or some other kid with a POS (point and shoot...hah) snapping away, taking pictures of food, scenery, friends and self pic themselves.

Hell, I do it all the time. I try to be as sly/unobtrusive as possible though, Ninja Pro style, and you can see from a lot of my photos that I hardly don't take awkward photos of people who don't want to be photographed or if I do then they don't even realize it (mwah ah aha h). The last thing I want to do is make a dude uncomfortable or cause inconvenience.

My friends have basically learned to tolerate accept it or at least wait until on out of earshot before they say anything, like real friends do.



The one thing that I try to avoid at all costs is being that guy. So yeah, I might take one or two but do my best to show some restraint and wait for the right moment...although it might now always work out that way (see alcohol as a corollary).

You know who I'm talking about - that one guy or girl who's a buzz kill with it. The worse example of it is in that one episode of Dinner Party Wars where that chick brings around her SLR to all parties (and even her's) and gets all up in your face taking pictures of food. Nation wide awkwardness.

While it's nice to capture a moment in time, don't forget that you should enjoy it as well. Although you might have a picture nothing compares to the real thing, so relax for a minute and take it all in.



A lot of it also depends on who you are with and what the circumstances are though.

A good example is at weddings where people just let the pictures fly. All weddings are like this - the professional photographer(s) come in dressed casually then during the ceremony and reception get all up in everyone's business. They're right up there at the altar, blocking everyone because they're taking pictures of the exact moment the ring goes on so it can live in some book somewhere, etc, etc, etc.

It's nice and you might actually look back at it, but damn son. Moment killer.

On the other hand you have me at the wedding reception, hopped up on red wine, where I shamelessly probably took at least 15 cell phone pics of me with just the bride/groom during the reception. So I'm awesome, not annoying.

Vacations are another beast to tackle...



Also, when making videos people don't realize how much footage you need to throw together a short clip. Say what you want but trying to make standing there, walking through crowds or jumping jacks look exciting is a tough gig.

I don't mind making videos at all but I'm over filming for them. While I might take some of the footage I'll leave it up to my teammates for the most part. If they want a video that's fine, but at least help a brother out or do something interesting. Otherwise enjoy 2 minutes of slow motion walking where people aren't even looking at the camera...



The other thing about photography is that a lot of it is about luck and chance. Just being in the right place at the right time to capture whatever is going on. But don't miss the full impact of it though by trying to see it through a crappy little lens...



I'll admit that I barely like carrying around a 5 pound SLR - it's BS. I'm a firm believer of the saying carry less shoot more, so you'll never see me with more than the lens that's on or even a lens cap when I bust the Nikon out.

Shucks, my iPhone is good enough for most situations, and it's convenient as hell.



I can guarantee you that the guy who has a backpack full of glass probably wishes it was cotton candy instead. That's not fun.

Professional camera-people carry around more than one camera with different lenses, because while you're busy taking off your lens cap or swapping it out, he's already got the shot...and you've missed it...regret forever...or something like that.



I dunno, that's just some noise from a dude who is just happy that it's Friday. Do what you like, don't shit disturb others and have fun - that's what matters.

Is this the OS X equivalent of the blue screen of death?

First Steve now this?

So I get home from the buffet last night and decide to take a look at the pictures I took at the zoo over the weekend, but guess what happened? It's like the BSOD but politely informative...



It's the first time I've ever encountered something like that - screen goes grey, doesn't accept input (aka frozen) and then that window pops up. It even corrupted my Aperture library (which took forever to rebuild) and disconnected from my PS3 which was streaming Jackass 3.5 at the time. Bummer.

Grey screen of doom?

Oakville Dragon Boat Festival Video 2011 Version

Time flies... Seems like just yesterday that I was throwing down zero pull ups during that fitness test and the season is already over. I'm on to the next one...



GWN here I come.

Oh snap...was the sound your tendon made when it...snapped.

So I ended up at the ER last night...well let me rephrase that...I ended up taking someone to the ER yesterday for a freak accident that caused some serious damage.

The hospital is one of those places where I should probably be more cautious with the sanitizer and stuff, but I'm not because I just assume my body can fight off anything (famous last words). I'll admit that it kind of freaks me out when nurses are talking to someone and then immediately puts on a face mask like 2 feet away from me. This one (sickly) lady also sat next to me with this IV full of Avelox (which I looked up immedately and found out that it's to treat AIDS some respiratory infection or tuberculosis) and I probably shouldn't have fallen asleep facing her face, heh. I'm that guy breathing deeply and eating (without washing his hands), so watch out.

What happened was the dude was washing one of those CorningWare bowls, dropped it in the sink, it broke, then part of it ended up slicing open the back of his hand, exposing the frail humanity inside and damaging the goods - blood and gore for all!

Apparently that also severed the extensor tendon for his middle finger, and as a result the tendon coiled back into his hand somewhere and he's lost the ability to flip people the bird straighten or lift his middle finger.



I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's an incredibly strange/crazy/frustrating feeling trying to move your finger - something that you've done probably millions of times in your life - knowing what it's supposed to feel like and what it's supposed to do but then nothing happens...

So 5 stitches and a full fingertip to forearm cast later, he's out. Unfortunately it's all gotta come off the next day when he sees the hand specialist/plastic surgeon, so they can cut his hand back open once again, fish for that tendon and somehow re-attach it. Ouch.

I have no idea what the road to recovery is like but he's probably not going to be able to play that 7-string for a while. One hand typing FTW.

In other news, I totally pulled a noob move and uploaded a video with a typo in it. It sorta threw a wrench in my dragon boat propaganda spreading campaign, but hopefully I pulled it quick enough that nobody noticed...or did they? Muah ah ah ah ah. I don't know what that means...

Terms of Enrampagement

I've come to the firm conclusion that unplanned boredom always results in one of two things for me (or both): going out to eat or watching movies. Neither of those activities require much effort so I'm pretty much always down for either, so hit me up (because I'm so lonely).



From the past week, if there's one thing that I've learned about movies it's that even a comedy horror can stress me out...and Colin Farrell can be a really, really creepy guy if he wants to...and apes can never be trusted...and that Kenny Powers always plays the same character...and so does that other guy from the Facebook movie...and that fake butter just makes everyone ultra thirsty...



Also, people can never have enough cool treats on a hot day...

I was outside with the fam on Saturday and I alone had 2 of those super ice popsicles (they changed the colors, wtf), a snow cone, huge slushie in a novelty cup and a large yogen fruz. My sugar syrup intake was at an all time high, but talk about refreshing.

Funny thing is that we ALL ate/drank at least that much and some fellas enjoyed even more. We must have spent over $100 on just those cold treats alone, but summer is almost over so why not enjoy yourself?



Anyway, that's one Saturday reclaimed...but Monday, here I come.

We don't get fooled again...

I've been watching that race where we got penalized and I gotta say that it's one of those moments where for you it's like it's happening in slow motion, but for everyone else they're just like wtf noobs...

Anyway, they released the results and all I can say is that they should have at least indicated that there was some time adjustment, and also their event photographer needs to step up their game.



I've also finished cutting up the pieces for the last Swordfish edit. I think just from the sheer volume of clips I've had coming in this season from both teams I'm getting pretty quick at this editing stuff (maybe). We have our end of season bash next week so hopefully I can throw one together by then or risk being ostracized.

Just gotta pick a song now and get my edit on...or maybe not...



Last night I threw someone out at home from right field to end the inning - shit was impressive and could not be believed. Turns out all this paddling turned my shoulder into some sort of cannon.

Why hello there, we meet at last.

It's always the best when you meet up with friends you haven't seen in a real long time and when you get together it's like you're just continuing a conversation from yesterday (and laughing your brains out). You don't need to make small talk and the silence is never awkward, you're just hanging out, having fun and shooting the breeze.

I was lucky enough to have a handful of these in the past few weeks, and although it's kind of sad that you don't get a chance to get together more often, it's better than just losing touch. For real.

I met up with a buddy earlier this week who was working overseas for a while, but is back in town for a long stretch and it was just like being in school again (except that we were wearing that business casual attire instead of sweatpants). We ate some buffet, snuck into some movies, feet up, drinking slushies, eating candy, staying up late on a weeknight, all that fun stuff.

And on that note I firmly declined to attend my high school reunion. Pass the haterade player.

Anyhow, buckle up kids because it has finally arrived. Once that red dot and foregrip come in, then it's time to assemble. EPICTEMBER.



No more practice on Saturday mornings FTW!

Public Enemy @ The Sound Academy aka Sausagefest 2011

So despite having a regatta the next day I did end up going to Sausagefest on Saturday night...

Doors actually opened at 2 in the afternoon and by the time we got there around 5 it was jam packed of drunk and sunburned white people. I've never actually seen so many topless people (men and women) with wife-beater sunburns etched into their cherry red skin. We could have been in Texas (or somewhere like that).



Even by the time we got there people had already laid waste to the place with Amsterdam Blonde tall boy cans. I'm talking a sea of yellow cans just all over the ground and on top of anything they could stand them on. It was probably the worst sticky stale beer smelling clean up ever for that 16 year old coming in for their shift the next day.

The washroom lineup was totally outrageous as well (and straight gross). I dunno how the ladies' side was but the men's was just overflowing with pools or urine. If you slipped and fell in it, then I'm pretty sure you got all the Hepatitis strains that exist.

It was busy and there was a ton of people but what would you expect from a free concert.



There were also sausages there too...$4 a pop.

They didn't actually let you into the concert hall until maybe 6. There was some serious disconnect on our end because some of us didn't get in, while we waited for someone who was actually already inside, fail. the place was at capacity all night.



The security guards were also laying the smackdown on fools trying to sneak in. As soon as one guy decided to leave and opened the door, 10 would try to push in and then get stomped by a huge black guy. Smokers didn't care though because they just smoked inside, it was so full of people anyway that no one cared or could even get to you if they saw it.



Despite that The Sound Academy does have an awesome patio and it was still really crowded, so not the biggest deal that we didn't get in right away. We did eventually sneak in via some real Mission Impossible type hustle. Our one friend who had gotten in actually orchestrated the whole thing and it was pretty impressive.

It involved him somehow ending up outside. Then us seeming as if we leaving the venue but at the last second stepping out of line and slipping inside this side door he propped open with a beer can, then walking away from the bar area, crossing a barricade, walking past a sleeping security guard and then ending up at the back bar. It was crazy.

And just before Public Enemy came on. Perfect.



I'm not even a fan of Public Enemy. In fact the only songs I even heard of are Fight the Power and that one song they sang with Anthrax, just because it was in that one Tony Hawk game. Pretty good show though and Flava Flav is quire the character.



Another totally crazy thing was that a few of us had to park at Cherry Beach because Cirque du Soleil was going on across the street and parking was insane. Two of us ended up parking there and it's probably like a 20 minute walk.

At that park they have these two huge artificial grass soccer fields, which are full blown lit at 2 am in the morning for all those TO soccer fans apparently.



It's pretty trippy to run across it or lie down and chill and drink right in the middle of thus huge field in the middle of the night with absolutely nobody around, but talk about a waste of electricity...



Photsynth...mixed results...

Swordfish gets BS'd at the Oakville Dragon Boat Festival...

You know...I personally expect to get BS'd on any given day - it's just a fact that in my life somehow someone somewhere will find a way to make me miserable for no legitimate reason at all. Did I forget to mention that someone backed into my car the other day and then skedaddled? Well that's another story...

So the haters decided to take it to the next level and BS my entire dragon boat team this time as they brought the hate all the way from Stankonia right into my own backyard. Not cool.

The bottom line is that although we won the A Consolation Final at Oaville (which is actually Glen Eden in Milton btw, wtf), we got penalized 1.5 seconds from a preliminary heat and ended up in 4th. Frak.



Ok fine. We pulled a noob move, that's real, but here's what happened: we were lining up, got to "ready, read" then the starter screamed "attention", and I mean startling scream, some of the boat took a stroke because it sounded like a go call, the judge called us out, but then decided to go ahead and shoot the cannon anyway and start the race despite what happened...

Normally when this type of thing happens and you have enough time to actually call out the one team that was at fault, they give you a warning then just line the boats up again for another fair start. This judge, who I'm guessing might have been drinking moonshine in the bushes is doing it for the first time, decided to fire the start gun anyway despite all the doings that just transpired.



As a result, our one stroke allegedly moved us up 8-10 feet which is somehow a 1.5 seconds penalty. F**king weak and unrealistic.

Did I forget to mention that the the start judge is on shore about 15m to the right of the start line but also about 5-10 m behind it? So how the hell can he judge that distance anyway. Did I also forget to mention that he had to line up our second race twice because he messed up? He could have done the same for the first, but decided it would be more exciting to fix up a race like that. More likely that he decided I was too good looking and had to penalize us somehow - it was dumb.

Anyway, despite that cheese the weather held up and it was a solid day of racing. The thunder and lightning actually rolled in after our A Consolation Final. There was only the actual A Final to finish off the regatta but I'm not sure if they actually raced that race because I had to go home and immediately wash away that sorrow.



In other news....Vitaminwater was back but with smaller bottles and their (lame) Jenga game. After never ever seeing anyone ever buy or drink their product at a regatta or ever, I guess they figured out that giving away hundreds of bottles of their full sized product was not a smooth business move...so they decided to create a smaller version and give that away instead. Marketing genius.



It was my first time at this regatta and despite a totally misleading name it wasn't all that bad. It's a venue I'm more than familiar with and, like I said, pretty much right in my backyard.

We threw down a 2:15, 2:16 and a 2:15 (which got adjusted to a 2:17) in some pretty close races. When seeding works out right the winner is usually decided by hundredths of a second. Having that 1.5 second penalty was just total BS like when Tory sent Cally through that airlock like a biatch.



It wasn't all bad though because we ate well. Real well. It was the first time any of my teams planned it out and brought a BBQ with all the fixings and snacks. I had a sausage and a burger, and by my broad estimation that was about 2381 calories to power me for the final race. It was glorious, and much better than the usual fare you get at these type of events. Much better.

We were no match for that one team who brought actual chicken and a full blown industrial size charcoal grill to feed their team. Outclassed. But at least they actually deserved to win that one...



Anyway, like I said: we won but lost. What a way to go, especially at our last regatta of the year.

Just for the record though, our captains and coach did try to reason with the judges. I'll admit that I've never read though a dragon boat rule book but if we make a mistake in one race, shouldn't it affect that race? Even disqualifying us from the race would have put us in a final based on our second race, which is pretty consistent with the first. I dunno, we messed up but that judge kinda screwed us too right...

We could have easily probably sandbagged our second heat to balance out that time to at least give us a chance in the final (after penalty), but leave it to us to not hold back and land us within the top 10 teams in that regatta.



Whatever. That's life. Shit gets real, then you die.



Well at least my Saturdays are free now. Epictember, here I come...

Banana Boat vs Woodstock Dragon Boat Festival 2011

Like I mentioned yesterday, when it comes to music there's nothing more subjective (and cheesy) than trying to choose a song that people may/not like. I've learned that while I might like to listen to Matt & Kim, most people would think I'm some sort of hipster wannabe when they hear those sweet sweet beats leaking out of my headphones. Conversely, when I hear Kesha on the radio it makes me puke in my mouth a little, but that kind of cheese also makes the girls go crazy so I hope they don't mind the vomit flavor...

I don't really sweat it though because I will never compromise my artistic integrity, right? RIGHT?



Let me drop some history on you: back in the day, YouTube used to come down pretty hard with the copyright cock blocking - you'd upload something then it would call you a fool and tell you that nobody will ever get to see your video anyway. Facebook was even worse since it would just straight delete that video you worked so hard on without so much as even telling you that it was going to bring the hatred. So back then I tried to use some awesome but not so mainstream songs so I didn't have to deal with that foolishness.

Nowadays, just like how I don't believe that Facebook is a legitimate photo sharing site so I never upload stuff there, I just don't upload videos to it all together. Fortunately, YouTube has gotten pretty good with it though, since they just spam your comment with an iTunes ad and then deny those pesky Germans, so you don't really have to worry about unnecessary blockage anymore.

Anyway, here's that yellow shirt gold medal swag coming at you.



Crap, I just realized that I forgot to include the BB cheer shot. Shucks.

And on that note...Sausagefest tomorrow!

What you know about whisky?

Banana Boat was out last night to celebrate a teammate moving on to bigger and better things in Ireland and it got me thinking about a couple of things...

First: that's some scary and interesting stuff, folding up shack and moving to another country at the drop of a hat. For a lot of people any sort of change is terrifying, especially if it requires you to leave things behind or make sacrifices. To abandon the familiar, take on something brand new (especially on such short notice) and to jump into it without knowing where you'll even stay or any friends/family there who could help you out is some gutsy business.

Change is good though and adventures like that build character...unless it somehow leads to your demise.



Second: meeting up at Oliver and Bonacini Cafe Grill, it seems like everyone works and lives downtown (and dress nicely). And people downtown, really like to hang out downtown after work. It's convenient, fun, you just walk/transit anywhere and there's always something to do.

The city is where the action is and by my broad estimation, if I were to ever live there, I'd be bankrupt in 6 months.



Three: I don't know jack about whisky. Or is it whiskey? Kev and I cracked a bottle of his Lagavulin 16 year for our drinking pleasure but it was pretty rough (at first anyway). Maybe it's because the flavor of Islay whiskey is so different from north american stuff that I think it tastes so weird, but you can really taste that brown water and peat (I guess)...and it burns and gives you the chills...like drinking windshield washer fluid.

We tried to do it right and be classy - no ice, no water just the whiskey itself and some sipping action - but the flavor is overwhelming when you slosh it around your tongue you get that full blown burn like an ethanol explosion in the back of your throat. They had it at O&B for $13 a pop, so it's gotta be good right? I dunno, but it wasn't as smooth as Johnnie Blue so I'll stick to that if I ever feel like dropping cash on classy booze...

But in all fairness, this is coming from guys who use to live off $2 Faxe 10% in first year and those gents in the UK are probably saying the same thing about our drank as well so...



So I'm nearly done the BB edit for Woodstock too and I'll have to admit that choosing a song is very hit or miss. While I'm a tyrant and basically dismiss any song suggestions that people try and suggest to me, most of the music I enjoy listening to is not what other people really like so haters can hate all the way to iTunes for all I care. Creative freedom right?

2011 Montreal Dragon Boat Festival Video Fun!

You know how sometimes I make empty promises take really long to put together an edit because I'm such a lazy bum I'm not feeling it or I can't really get into it? I mentioned it a couple times before that, especially with me, I really gotta get into this kind of thing or else it just turns out like an awkward low budget porno (or something like that). Well boom goes the dynamite.

So I threw this thing together in 40 minutes flat on Saturday night and it even impressed me that I was able to make such short work of it. I'll admit that usually I get lucky with scenes going together with music or lyrics but I was having fun, things just seemed to click and, damn son, I was on fire. I think that video turned out pretty well too, heh.

What ended up happening was that after Woodstock Banana Boat went to go eat a victory buffet at Wasabi. As glorious as that was, like everyone else having woken up so early that morning, by the time we ended up leaving after 9 I was ready to take a hot bath shower and pass out. Instead I somehow convinced myself that drinking another 5 hour energy would be beneficial to my digestion and I was so tired anyway that it wouldn't make much of a difference so...

In retrospect, I probably still had some residual energy drink and other crap in my system from before because I got pretty coked up (again). After scrubbing the crap out of my skin, I threw on my headphones and got to work with that then probably played like 3 hours of video games after while watching America's Test Kitchen. The BB website was updated, the race videos, plus that edit were all rendered/uploaded by the time I woke up the next day, heh.

And like I said before: I also went full cheese on that song. It felt like I was using some sort of classified military technology because to use a song like that is like using the blackbird in FFA - it's just not fair. Even I think the lyrics are out of control preposterous but the song is CATCHY AS HELL, so I was pretty happy with it (and Deadmau5 always makes things better). Up next: Banana Boat edit.



As a bonus, some friends on the OHDBC Hammerheads wanted to borrow the GoPro for a race. They basically threw together an OHDBC team for that event, and if you don't know what the OHDBC is then just look at the results from the premier division championships of any big race. Check the video out to see what some of the best paddlers in Cananda look like. It wasn't that surprising that they won the event either...

Swordfish takes on the Oakville Dragon Boat Festival (which is actually located in Milton) this weekend in our final regatta of the season. It's been a great year so far so let's see what we can do!

Banana Boat Wins Gold (Again)

So I raced on Saturday and this is all I have to show for it...



So Banana Boat finally won some hardware this year and I was pretty elated when it happened because not only did we manage to jump up 2 divisions but we had to beat off some serious BS with our paddles to get it.

Usually Woodstock is a pretty smooth regatta but man did they struggle to keep it together on Saturday (and it didn't even rain or anything). It basically boiled down to lots of teams waiting around in the marshaling area, sweating for no reason. Okay fine, I actually did most of the sweating, but you get the point.



Like I said it was hot and I'm a sweaty animal I don't deal with humidity very well, so cue the team walking through the sprinklers shot . . . now.



They didn't even have good food at the festival either - that was pretty lame. If there's one thing they need to step up then it's probably that. I wanted to eat a giant turkey leg or something (to get my energy up you know) but ended up with two crappy hot dogs, which I had to make up for at the buffet afterwards.

I'm probably just still bitter because the team behind us ate victory lobsters after their final race, and all we could do was watch. That's right lobsters.

...cue the requisite Banana Boat cheer shot . . . now.



Since I'm such a fair competitor, I tried to get jacked up on as much sugar and 5 hour energy as possible for the Final. I'm still having a hard time trying to convince the rest of the team that caffeine pills are alright too. I don't think it worked out though because all that waiting seemed to have foiled my plans (maybe).

I think what happened was that the caffeine and sheer volume of the Arizona iced tea plus the heat plus the waiting just made me have to pee so much that I eventually got most of the drugs stuff out of my system before the race even happened. I went form pulsating wired to straight headache and mild buzz for the race. The plan will be revised and improved upon for GWN...



So during the final we were in lane 4 (last lane on the right) and what happened was lane 2 tried to pull some BS (or their cox just totally sucked that much) and nearly pushed over into our lane with #3 sandwiched in between - in the pic above there was another team to the right of them as well.

It was crazy and I could hear our coach constantly telling them to "back the f**k up" because they were getting all up in our space. Luckily they have officials following behind the boats to catch that kind of foolishness. The fact that they "drifted" over so far was some real drama because that's a lot distance to "accidentally move over".

As a result, shit got real and that team got disqualified for being noobs (even though they were ahead). That's what happens when you suck you interfere, so get real (or another cox).



Outrage! We actually didn't find out until afterwards that we took first because it was a pretty close race and with the angles you can never tell. It ended up working out though and we got that repeat gold medal swag. That's real (just like my teammate vomiting red puke in the subway because he had to get up so early (btw it was me that told the entire team, sorry (but not really (mwah ah ah ah)))).



Here's what the race looked like from the drummer's perspective. Especially at 2:05 you can see how close the other boat got, and that was not cool. I usually follow the person in front of me and the two people on the diagonal for pace, so I could see that boat in the corner of my eye and it was pretty ridiculous.

They came into our lane about 3 times and let's just say that there was a lot f-bomb dropping...



Anyway, all is well in the jungle and we were well rewarded afterwards.

I was also introduced to this iPhone program called Photosynth. It's basically a panoramic photo stitcher app, but it actually works reasonably well (so long as most things in the picture don't move).



It's also free so get your download on and check it out.



Now back to da grind...