Internet study shows Canadians are heavy users

Apparently, according to the study quoted in this article, "56 per cent of all Canadians are online at least seven hours a week, with the average Canadian user online 13.5 hours each week".

Another interesting stat - "Canadian internet users watched, on average, 3.7 hours less television per week than non-users".

(I'll make no comment about the fact that by blogging about this I'm upping my internet hours for the week...)

Yesterday was a good day for new releases

Not only did Episode 3 of Star Wars come out on DVD, but the Tragically Hip released Hipeponymous, a limited edition box set of 2 CD's and 2 DVD's - I've been listening to the CD's and rekindling my love of Gord Downie's unique vocals and lyrics.

(I went to an unnamed store yesterday to buy these - interesting how at 11 am on a Tuesday all the cash desks were manned and everyone in line had a copy of Star Wars. I know that it was a special one-day only price, but it's only $2 more today - is it that important to get it on the first day? Mind you, I was there too...)

EPO maker to back California Tour

The newly announced cycling Tour of California next February is to be sponsored by AMGEN - the company that developed recombinant erythropoietin (EPO). AMGEN states "its sponsorship is driven by its awareness of the inappropriate use of its product." I'm sure Dick Pound and WADA will absolutely love this :-)

In Memoriam...

Family, friends pay tribute to missing climber
Paul Marck - The Edmonton Journal- Monday, October 24, 2005

EDMONTON -- Adventurer, dependable partner and co-worker, prankster, fearless outdoorsman. Those were the words friends and family members used Sunday to describe Darryl Dow, an Edmonton paramedic who disappeared last month while on a mountaineering trip southwest of Canmore.

Dow, 40, went climbing by himself in early September on Mount Assiniboine, a 3,618-metre peak along the Alberta-B.C. boundary. Dow last checked in with his partner, Susan Tremblay, on Sept. 7. In the days that followed, a massive ground and air search was launched. It turned up nothing.

There were tears and laughter at a memorial service Sunday as nearly 300 people, including many of Dow's colleagues from the city's Emergency Medical Service, filled the theatre auditorium at the Royal Alberta Museum. A multimedia presentation outlined Dow's life from childhood to his recent climbing adventures. Many of the sensational photographs Dow took himself while on his alpine travels.

His youngest sister, Janis, said his courage and zest for life inspired her, starting from when they were children growing up in Kilarney, Man. "He was always curious, talented and charming," she said, choking back tears several times. She said her brother's adventuring spirit was apparent beginning from his days as a Boy Scout. He could learn anything from reading a book and trying it out.

When he became a paramedic in the early 1990s, he loved the job, but was equally passionate about outdoor life, which he took every chance to enjoy. His EMS partner, Steve Gormsen, said Dow liked nothing better than to hike, climb, ride his bike or play volleyball. He relished every chance he had to get to the Rockies, either with experienced climbers or rookie adventurers. "I think Darryl really thought of himself as an ambassador of the mountains," said Gormsen.

Susan Tremblay's tribute to her partner was read by her children, Beau and Erica. "He was thoughtful, he was mischievous, he was funny, he was smart," she recalled.

Dow was never afraid to try new things. He took up soccer in his 30s, and admitted he was often the worst player on the field. It never stopped him from enjoying himself.
© The Edmonton Journal 2005

Other details not mentioned in above article:

City Chaplain as MC - very good at putting into words how difficult it is not knowing what happened, and wondering why this happened.

Mike Harroun read Dale Golding's e-mail tribute - both did a very good job (at reading and at writing).

Music Selections included -
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day
"Time of Your Life" by Green Day
"Lost Together" by Blue Rodeo
"We'll Meet Again" by Johnny Cash

Lots of cycling news...

Stuart O'Grady has a new contract finally, but might miss the Tour de France - O'Grady had thought he signed a legit contract with a team just starting up, only to find that the person negotiating on behalf of major sponsor Sony-Ericsson actually had no authorization from them - hence no team at a time when all the other teams had already pretty much used up their budgets and filled their rosters. So, I'm sure he's sleeping better now that he's signed with CSC - except that their team goal would be for Ivan Basso to win the Tour, they won't be interested in helping O'Grady go for the green jersey.

(and I'm sure Robbie McEwen (R) lost no sleep over poor Stuey's (L) predicament ...)

And the ASO (organizing committee) announced the 2006 Tour de France route today. No team time-trial this year... as neat as it looks, that's actually a really good thing for my favourite team (Davitamon-Lotto) as they won't have to bring specific riders for the TTT, and instead can bring more sprinters to help Robbie McEwen and more climbers to help Cadel Evans. Plus, Cadel won't get so far back in the overall classification (GC) just because his team isn't good at the TTT.

My last day ... with an asterisk

So this was my last regular day seeing patients at my current job (the asterisk is because I still have a week or two of paperwork and cleaning my office, plus I'm on call next week). One of my colleagues asked at lunch how I was feeling - I'm not really sure, it doesn't really feel any different, maybe a bit of relief, but somewhat anti-climactic I think.

Maybe it's like when cyclist Robbie McEwen asked Lance Armstrong how he felt towards the end of this year's Tour de France:

I rode alongside him towards the end of the final stage to congratulate him and ask how he felt. He turned round to me and said "I feel hungry". I was thinking to myself "he can't be hungry for more success", and then he headed towards his team-mate George Hincapie and asked if he had any spare food.

Maybe it will sink in after a few weeks when I don't have any more paperwork to do and can get around to doing all the things I haven't had time to do for too long. Maybe it will sink in when I get more rest and I'm not feeling tired all the time like I seem to be now. Maybe it will sink in when I get to do more things for myself instead of just for other people all the time.

And then I know that all those experiences above I'm looking forward to will only be short-lived, because with our overall goal of having a family I'm quite well aware that having kids generally brings fatigue, less time for yourself, and not getting things done ... so I'll try to enjoy it while it lasts.

For now, I think I'll go make dinner for Ed instead of the other way around ... I am a bit hungry :-)

Jann Arden isn't depressing ...

Ed and I went to see Jann Arden in concert the other night at the Winspear, for at least the fifth time (I think). She played for 3 nights, and we went on the second - the morning of our concert, this review was in the Edmonton Journal. I was a bit perplexed by the review, because I had never really considered a Jann Arden concert to be a depressing event, as the reviewer (and her friend who didn't want to go even with a free ticket) seemed to think. The reviewer also commented that she wished Jann wouldn't talk so much and would sing more, which I also thought was odd - that's why we like going to her concerts, you get to hear and see her inspiring (to me) perspective on life. As our friend Lisa said (when we discussed the review before the concert), if we wanted to just hear the CD again we could sit at home for that.

Of course, Jann had to make her own comments about the review - she asked the audience whether they wanted her to shut up, no one did. She also joked about how while her songs may be depressing, she does that deliberately so that we can all feel better about ourselves. I realized why I've never thought of her concerts as depressing or "fragile", as the reviewer seemed to - it all balances out when she talks and jokes in between, and to me it's the overall package that's important. If all she did was sing, you'd never see her true personality.

(It's like a review once of a Blue Rodeo concert, where the reviewer complained about the improvisational sections they did and that they changed their songs around too much - to me, that's the band's personality and again if I wanted to hear things exactly like the CD I could just stay home).

Anyway, we enjoyed the concert very much, and you'd think we had bought our tickets together by the fact that we were only separated from Steve and Lisa by 2 seats... and Lisa went to school with one of the people in between ... small world.

Some thoughts about a friend

Memorial will celebrate life of avid climber
- City paramedic disappeared on treacherous solo ascent
The Edmonton Journal October 20, 2005

EDMONTON - Family and friends of an Edmonton paramedic who disappeared while climbing one of the highest peaks in the Canadian Rockies will celebrate his life at a memorial service this weekend.

The memorial for Darryl Dow, an acting superintendent with Emergency Medical Services, is Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Royal Alberta Museum theatre. Dow, 40, went missing in mid-September while attempting a solo ascent of Mount Assiniboine, a 3,618-metre mountain along the British Columbia-Alberta border, southwest of Canmore. Searchers scoured the area on foot and by helicopter for three days, but found no trace of him.

Dow last checked in with his partner Susan Tremblay on Sept. 7, saying he was travelling to the B.C. side of the mountain to climb. He said his route would depend on the weather. Mount Assiniboine, often compared to the Matterhorn in Switzerland, is known among mountaineers as a difficult climb with risks of exposure, rock falls and avalanches.

Dow had worked for the EMS since 1993. Colleagues called him a well-respected and accomplished paramedic.
© The Edmonton Journal 2005

Enough time has now passed that I can pass an ambulance on the road without tears coming to my eyes (I used to always try to look to see if it was Darryl or Steve when I passed an ambulance, a habit that persisted even when I knew they had become supervisors ... the first few ambulances I passed after hearing about Darryl were hard).

I had signed up for a conference at the Shaw Conference Centre the week after we heard about Darryl ... driving there I realized that the last time I had been there was the Blue Rodeo concert last spring (with Darryl there among other friends) - then I realized that I think it was the last time I saw Darryl - kicking myself for being "too tired" to go watch the Alberta Centennial fireworks on September 1 at Luc's, the last time Ed saw Darryl. Makes you realize the importance of doing the important things right away rather than putting them off (like keeping in touch with friends and family).

My backpacking trip in August on the Chilkoot Trail has become somewhat a bittersweet experience, in that Darryl used to always ask me about my Guiding background and when I'd be doing any outdoor trips - I hadn't really done any backpacking or similar for quite a few years, so all through the trip I was looking forward to the opportunity to tell him about it (and never got the chance). As it turned out, I got around to sending out an e-mail to a bunch of friends, with a link to my photos, and it ended up being right at the same time most of us found out he was missing ...

Dakota Fanning Becomes a Girl Scout

11 year old American actress Dakota Fanning and her sister Elle recently became Girl Scouts, following in their mother's footsteps. In July, Entertainment Weekly called her the "most powerful woman in Hollywood" because her movies over the last 4 years have earned more money ($647-million) than any other actress (Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, and Reese Witherspoon were next on the list). GSUSA is going to be featuring Dakota in a publication for 8-11 year Girl Scouts.

Some Thought-Provoking Flags with commentary

From Matthew Good's blog, there are some interesting pieces by a Brazilian artist. The artist has shown a number of flags, with captions to indicate what the different colours "represent". Interesting ...

A Cycling Fan's Lament

Why, oh why do I have to be a fan of sports that aren't big in North America? At least, thanks to Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France gets live/same day TV coverage here (but who knows what will happen next year now that Lance is retired).

CBC is scheduled to show coverage next weekend from the World Road Cycling Championships in Madrid - but the event actually finished today. And apparently to protect CBC's rights, an internet site that did live streaming of footage from the men's road race today wasn't allowed to show anything in Canada.

So, I had to resort to watching live text updates from several websites (Cycling News, the Daily Peloton, Eurosport) to see what happened this morning. Unfortunately Robbie McEwen, one of the favourites and my favourite, didn't win. (but I guess I can watch it next Saturday on CBC, depending on whether the CBC strike affects the scheduling).

(update - October 9 - CBC was still on strike last weekend so showed a rerun of Sports Saturday from last May ... Cycling TV now has highlights of the Worlds on their website, but can't show them to anyone from Canada because CBC still has all the rights...)

In the style of Robert Service ...

On our Chilkoot Trail trip, we were looking through the logbook at Happy Camp (i.e., the campsite after the big long day over the Chilkoot Pass) - we were amused to see the entries commenting on "amazing view", "wonderful weather - +30 C so we went skinny dipping in Crater Lake" and so on, seeing as we were fogged in over the pass with rain and a wind chill likely below freezing. So we were inspired to write this poem to describe *our* trip, and we wrote it in that same logbook (because it was still raining we decided to sleep in that morning, take our time making breakfast and taking down our tents - we didn't leave Happy Camp until 12:30 or 1 pm) :


"There are strange things done in the midnight sun" - no wait, we didn't see the sun, let's start over.

There are strange things seen when you're with Noreen, when you're hiking the Chilkoot Trail;
There is lots of pain in the driving rain when you're determined not to fail.

Four packs were snatched, a plan was hatched, and Anderson saved the day
Three were found, lying around, and we were on our way.

Marcia hiked with a pack she disliked, a Walmart special she had;
Allison sewed by the headlamp glow and made it not so bad.

In the night, Aurora would recite "The Cremation of Sam McGee";
Other hikers were impressed as they sat to rest, at the campground of Canyon City.

It's so wet and cold, Chloe's clothes smell like mold, and no she is not lying;
You'll have no fear, when Emily's orange pants are near, of getting lost and crying.

In the fog, the summit shelter was clogged by hikers seeking respite;
Laura and Jen trailed, but in the end they prevailed, the top was a welcome sight.

So here we sit, about to split, our clothes dripping on the line;
Past Happy Camp we'll still be damp, but we leave you with this rhyme.

(Written by the Victoria Potluck Link and friends on August 25, 2005 - inspired by Robert Service)

Summer activities

I never got around to posting anything about our camping trip, so now I have two actually to mention.

Ed and I went camping in Kananaskis Country (Peter Lougheed Provincial Park) in August for 4 days - great weather (it was +30 C and sunny in Calgary all that week - cooler in the mountains but still great). We did some hiking as I was trying to prepare for my next trip at the end of August - our photos are here.

This trip reminded us of prior camping trips to Kananaskis, so I dug out some old photos: our first-ever camping trip as a couple in 1993 when we did the same Mt. Indefatigable hike we did again this year (photos here and here), and a camping trip in 1996 with friends where we went whitewater rafting.

In late August I hiked the Chilkoot Trail with some Guiding friends from Victoria, as mentioned previously on this page. My photos of that trip are here.

Thoughts on Lance Armstrong

The mainstream sports media (at least here in Canada) have covered really only bits and pieces of the back-and-forth accusations over the issue of L'Equipe (French sports newspaper) claiming they have evidence Lance Armstrong used EPO in the 1999 Tour de France. Already in the last week, the UCI (international cycling federation) criticized WADA and Dick Pound for commenting before full investigations were complete, Dick Pound claims that the leak was actually the UCI president, Lance Armstrong hints that he might actually make a comeback to combat rumours but now states that he won't (and criticizes Dick Pound), and the UCI president denies that the UCI leaked anything.

In my mind, I have grave doubts about testing done for no apparent valid reason, without the consent of the athlete involved, 6 years later - if the journalist involved forged numbers onto his documents, as the UCI claims, he could easily have faked results as well. Lance Armstrong has actually put his own money into improving drug testing in cycling over the years, which would probably be a really stupid thing to do if you were actually cheating.
(and while I used to think it was neat that Canada had a high-ranking IOC and later WADA official in Dick Pound, he now comes across as embarrassing when he makes comments apparently without all the information, even other WADA officials have criticized him as well).

Andrew Coyne, in one of his now-rare blogging moments, puts forth 4 possible scenarios for what might actually have happened, and points out that in three of the four, Lance Armstrong still comes across as a winner.

Katrina - some thoughts

What's to say at this point about Katrina that hasn't already been said? There are so many points of view, and so many people that have politicized what has happened to meet their own ends. In the Edmonton Journal the last few days there has been a debate between the radio DJ's supporting a teddy bear drive for the kids of the Gulf Coast, and the columnist who pointed out that they probably need more than just our teddy bears...

For me, the following two items summarize things the best:
1) a webcomic (actually my favourite comic anywhere at the moment, other than the temporary return of Calvin and Hobbes for the rest of the year) called Todd and Penguin - in this one, the child-like Penguin shows his concern at not knowing how to help (you can follow the next few comics to see what he tries), and cynical Oscar the cat shows the indifference of many, "it didn't happen to me so why should I care?".

2) National Post columnist and blogger Colby Cosh has an interesting recap on his website.