Mechanics 102

We've moved up from tapping and blowing. Now it's all out smashing and stomping.

The most amazing thing about motorcycles is how much machinery and engineering there is in such a confined space.

The most annoying thing about motorcycles is how much machinery and engineering there is in such a confined space.

"Hmm, where should we put the oil filter? Let's put it right between the two exhaust pipes with just enough room for a 12 year old girl's wrist to get in (luckily MacKenzie was there!) and remind people that the engine has to be HOT before they change the oil!" Bloody Japanese engineers! I swear they're still trying to get us back for WWII, just like the Germans with their Volkswagens, "Let's put reverse on the other side of the transmission unlike every other vehicle on the road!"

Totally unrelated question - does anyone know of a good way to clean gasoline from clothing?

Fred's Last Chance

Okay. Some madness over. Lots more to come. Why are my summers so much crazier than the winters?

Fred's bachelor was...interesting. 2 days in Jasper with 10 guys (2 bachelors who don't want to be, 7 married guys pretending to be, and Fred stuck in quasi-bachelor limbo) and a whole lot of testosterone flying (you know, axe-throwing, chest-beating, fire). Highlights included Fred throwing up (bad sausage eh Fred...sure), Fred swallowing half the Fraser River on a raft and on land, Noel spending way too much time thinking about where and what he wanted to paint on Fred's body with a Sharpie, and Lief macking everything that moved (possibly even Fred).

The food was awesome as Drew and Brian took care of everything, and I mean everything (we're talking not one but two kitchen sinks!). Bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns each morning with steak, mushrooms cooked in white wine, and pasta Saturday night. Now, I don't know if I consider stuffing 3 huge trucks/SUVs with every conceivable piece of camping equipment and sleeping in said trucks each night camping, but I sure did enjoy the food that came with it.

Then it was back home and off to the Sol's combined wedding shower for Fred and Danielle and Alby and Tyler, where more steak was had thanks to Jorgen's dad who "doesn't cut his steaks smaller than 24 oz.!" It was really good to hang out with those folks again and I quite enjoyed showing off Gregorious (almost as much as riding there on the Whitemud).

Still need to get to the mountains for some "real" camping, but for now I am good.

Holy Crap, It's Tuesday!?

I have no idea where the last week went. I think I might have slept some and there's a vague impression of having possibly eaten. Other than that I couldn't tell you. All I know is that it's Tuesday, my brother still doesn't have a place to live, I can legally ride Gregorious now, almost everyone surrounding The House seems to be suffering from extreme malais, the Oilers did something that rhymes with ploke (just like that other team, which rhymes with nincomplames), Murphy now knows that puppies are friends not food, and I desperately need to get to the mountains.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Golf Etiquette 101

Less than 4 hours of sleep, more than 12 hours of chasing a small white ball with 3 other sweaty men, all for the children. Yes, the Ironman of Golf was a lot of fun, especially the Polo Round. I don't know if hitting the ball whilst driving from the passenger seat of a golf cart is considered proper golf etiquette, but then neither is relieving onesself from the tee box so I guess the point is moot!

Young Life certainly knows how to show kids a good time and this ability is not lost on the adult events either. Everything was taken care of from the food (burgers for lunch, grilled salmo for supper) to the balls, tees, and backrubs. The only drawback to having golfed more holes in one day than I usually do in a year? Let's just say that we're now out of muscle relaxants and advil!

Tough Life

Looking forward to a week of golf and motorcycles. MacKenzie and I are joining forces to golf 100 holes on Monday for the Ironman of Golf - a Young Life fundraiser. We have people sponsering us to brave the fray of hitting small, white balls around a field for 12+ hours (for the children, of course). BenGay and Robaxacet all around!

Then 2.5 days of a motorcycle training course so that I can get my licence and allow Erika to feel a little more confident about not getting us both killed. But right now I have to decide if I'm feeling well enough to drive to the metropolis of Athabasca to see Paul's gig and perhaps partake of some jammage with the didge.

Sick Of Being Stressed About Being Sick Of Stress Sickness

Why does my body react to stress by making me sick, thereby preventing me from doing the things about which I am stressed, and thus propogating the entire cycle?

This is not a rhetorical question.

We All Must Eat A Peck Of Dirt Before We Die

The SIC Elf is currently sick. I can't remember the last time I was sick. It's been at least 3 or 4 years, which is amazing because I used to get sick all the time. I chalk my supreme immune system up to those early years of being sick brought on by eating dirt, licking keyboards and telephones, and eating the occasional pear (post dog-munged of course). I've been thinking the last week or so about how sterile and clean our society is and how this makes us think we are healthier, when in fact the opposite is probably true. We've all heard about the decline in the effectiveness of antibiotics from overuse and how superbugs are starting to form.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not quite ready to go back to pouring my sewage into the streets, but I think our obsession with being clean has led to a decrease in the strength of our immune systems. One such example came to me from the pursuit of the outdoors (which I love so much). Giardia, the organism responsible for causing beaver fever, is a fairly common thing to find in natural water sources. Animals poop, giardia gets into the water table, and until recently we were quite able to fight off giardiasis. But now that our drinking water is so wonderfully chlorinated we don't have to fight off the little bugs and we become vulnerable to even slightly tainted water.

BEHOLD, THE TIME IS NIGH WHEN A PLAGUE SHALL WIPE OUT THINE CATTLE AND THINE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES AND THE ORANGUTANGS....sorry, got carried away!

MurphDog The Water Weenie

So my dog is now officially a water maniac. Erika and I took him to the river on Saturday and then he went agian with a few of us on Sunday. It took him a while to get used to the idea of being submerged, the first attempt at fetching a stick stopping short of actual submergion and ending with an uncertainty as to the sanity of such a stick-throwing owner. With a little gentle persuasion (read: pick up dog, throw dog in deep water) he was doggie-paddling (i.e. paddling like a dog not disciplining other canines), stick-fetching (as in fetching sticks not...not fetching sticks) machine. Now if only I could find a slightly less contaminated body of water than the North Sask. I'm afraid that one time Murphy will go out for a stick and come back with a stiff.