Friday, June 30, 2006

My New Tour Favourite

With Basso, Ullrich, and Mansebo out, and Vinokourov without most of his team, I say...

watch out for this guy:


Michael_Rasmussen

Monday, June 26, 2006

Summer! Summer! Summer!

I am a total summer junkie. The dry desert heat of the Okanagan feels like a part of me that's missing as I while away my days on the Coast.

That is, until that Okanagan heat comes for a visit, which it has this week! Yesterday was a scorcher here, and I split from Cim and Sarah's place at 8:30AM (after 4 hours of sleep (!!) ) in order to soak it up. I spent a good portion of Sunday in the back yard adding some touches to the garden. The day ended as any summer day should, with a swim at the lake (Upper Thetis Lake shown).

I will be out on the bike tonight once it cools down, piquing my interest in cycling so I am sufficiently stoked when The Tour de France starts and I receive my new frame. The Tour is going to be great, and it is definitely generating quite a buzz. My prediction: a tight race between Ullrich, Basso, and Vinokourov, with some surprises from this guy, this guy, and maybe even the former world MTB champ!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

The Cups Runneth Over


I am swamped by coverage of both the Stanley Cup and FIFA World Cup. To this point, I never really even realised I cared. But the hockey is good, with Edmonton (once) playing the best hockey I have seen in years. And the World Cup is, well, the World Cup, and you have to care because it is the sport of the world. Heck, I even watched a documentary on Maradona last night!

Strangely enough, this has left me happy that the Phoenix Suns are out of the NBA playoffs, because I would have been watching that, too.

This endless TV and couch surfing means I have been delinquent about many things these past two weeks. I am shorting myself on exercise (though I did run a 2:04 at the very hilly, soft-trailed half marathon in Ucluelet on Sunday) , I have not kept in contact with family and friends (sorry all, esp. Jana and Mike), and I am desperately short of sleep (not really by choice). Then again, ask me for an opinion on:

whether Edmonton will win tonight;
what the solution to their horrible power play is;
which African team will make it to the second round;
if the US squad deserves its #5 ranking, or;
the population of Trinidad and Tobago (who has 1/20th the people of Canada, but can still make a World Cup appearance);

... and I can provide a heady response. Or are heady responses and sport mutually exclusive?

Regardless, I will be glad when hockey is done, as the NHL playoffs should not shoulder up to the Canada Day holiday. This makes our CBC look terrible, as they drive an 'Everything Hockey' mentality to the summer (see Hockeyville, Hockey - A People's History, and the reliving of the Oiler's Playoff Dynasty for evidence), and then ride Pierre Trudeau, Anne of Green Gables, and Feature movies until the season starts again.

Still, I don't think I am out of the woods yet, as hockey is over just in time to tune into this!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Seven Sites I Can't Live Without in my Day

I am tired of my Internet. Like a hamster in a wheel going nowhere, like a goldfish in a bowl swimming in circles, I visit the same sites over and over again throughout my day. Yes, the boundaries on the Internet are the boundaries of your imagination, blah, blah, blah. Still, I want the content to come to me sometimes, rather than having to seek it out.

And this got me to thinking: I know plenty of interesting people, and they must go to some interesting sites out there. I bet they could key me into some new content.

So, in the spirit of clothing swaps and rummage sales, I thought I would post my heavy rotation in hopes of picking up some fresh cyber-duds for the summer season.

What are the seven websites you can't do without in a day? Mine are:

CBC
The Globe and Mail
The Tyee
The Hollywood North Report
Go Fug Yourself (I am so ashamed!)
Google News - Canada
Comedy Central Motherload (the only place I can watch The Colbert Report)