Roadkill

Being a boy of the city originally I was aware of roadkill but I had no idea how much there is until I started working and living in a more rural setting. It boggles my mind the number of raccoons, porcupines, groundhogs,rabbits and other small animals I see on the road side every day. For years it never occurred to me what happened to these mangled carcasses but there must be a township guy who's job it is to pick them up and dispose of them. I hate to say it my I have created my own share of road kill over the years and it certainly seems to bother me much more now than it did years ago. I have hit a wild turkey two different times in my work truck and both times had to finish them off afterwards due to their injuries. I have hit a partridge and numerous other smaller birds which bugs me to no end. Over the years I have been become a bit of a bird watcher and when I hit one with my car it is upsetting.
This brings me to what has happened in the past two days which has saddened me a bit. Yesterday on my way to work on the 10'th concession I saw a small object in the roadway and missed it, realizing as I drove over it that it was a small painted turtle. I turned as soon as I could to go back and help it across the road only to see another run over the back end of it. It flipped up and smacked the bottom of the car and then came to rest in the middle of the road. When I got there it was alive but a closer inspection revealed a damaged back leg and the shell was cracked. It's unlikely it will survive although I moved it to the side of the road, not knowing whether it was wise to let him live. I can only hope somehow the little guy will survive.
Then today on the way to work again on Grey Rd. 2 I saw another small object in the road, missed it and again realized that it was another small painted turtle so I turned around but when I got to him his shell was also cracked so I moved him off the road but I don't hold out a lot of hope for him. He may have been dead already. I don't know why dead turtles bothers me. Maybe because they are small harmless little creatures who are just neat to look at. Maybe it's because I have stroked a sea turtles shell 70 feet under water in Cozumel and that is an experience I will never forget. That turtle was just having a great day and he was fine with a few divers coming over to say hello. Who knows? I do hope if you see a turtle in the middle of the road in your travels please try to safely turn around and help it out before a car gets it. We need all the turtles we can get in this world.

The Party with pictures

Have you all seen the movie The Hangover where at the end they discover the camera they had with them in Vegas. What follows is so funny because the pictures truly illustrate how much insane fun the wolf pack were having that night. Well I have just gone through something like that because Susan Lee gave me a disc with the many pictures she took that night and I can honestly say I don't remember most of them being taken. I am sure having a few puffs of illegal smile and combining white wine and beer helped me along in my amnesia. One thing does seem clear though as you go through the pictures. It looks like everyone had a real fine time, myself included. Susan managed to get great shots of just about all of the partiers having what looks like a real good time. Somehow she even managed to get me in many pictures which is something I try to avoid for the most part. All I can say is thank you Susan for doing a great job!

P.S. As usual I am having problems getting the photos on the page because of the size of the files so if you scroll to the bottom of the page there will be a few more there and if anyone can tell me how to reduce the size of picture files please do.



Terry, Lori and Susan






Ryan, Jen and Terry



Planking

I guess if I ever want to be with it or hip (outdated expressions?) I will have to consider taking up a new sport. Well I guess it's not really a sport, it's more of a pastime or fad or to be completely accurate an incredibly silly thing to do. It's called planking and all that is required to perform a plank is to lie face down as stiff as a board in a public place. That's it. You just lie there and hope no one steps on you or trips over you or who knows what. I am not sure if there are time limits as to how long the plank has to be performed or if there are style points involved but it is now becoming a bit of an internet sensation. There are 2 Taiwanese girls who call themselves Pujie which means "falling in the street" and they have become planking celebrities. They have been photographed planking down stairs, across motorcycles, on park benches (legs over the bench back and forehead touching the ground) and many other strange locations. They apparently are trying to convey a positive social message although I am not sure how planking achieves this or what exactly the message is but without a doubt they are becoming famous. They have over 100,000 followers on Facebook now which to me is absolutely mind boggling. It used to be you needed some kind of talent to become famous but in this day and age being able to feign rigormortis can go viral on the internet and presto, instant celebrity. I considered going downtown in Collingwood and performing a plank but it occurred to me that I could get injured. Not from being stepped on or tripped over, nothing that obvious. At my age I would probably hurt myself just attempting to perform the plank. I think I'll leave the tough stuff like lying down and doing nothing to the younger crowd and I'll stick to activities that get my heart going and keep my body loose like recreational drugs bike riding.

Nice Ride

Today I managed to sweat out some of the beer I consumed at the party with a nice ride. Todd met me at my place but we had to go back to Todd's because he needed a jacket due to the chill in the air. It was quite windy as well. There is a little novelty shop below Todd's place and out front they had a real cool clock for sale, just $19. Todd bought that one and they had a second one so I just had to get it. They are miniature penny farthing bikes, approximately 3 feet long. The reason they were so cheap is because the XII for 12 is actually IIX which due to my dyslexia previously discussed I didn't even notice. I have no idea where it will go in my house or how I will hang it but I'm glad I got it. We then headed out past the airport and crossed Duntroon sideroad and ended up in Glen Huron, a small and rather pungent little town. From there it was out to Hwy 124 and into a stiff wind. I forgot to close my jackets pit vents before heading into the wind so although it was downhill I couldn't get up a good head of steam because of the wind and my jacket acting like an air brake. Had to stop and take care of that. We also had a short stop to check out the new traffic circle going in at Poplar sideroad and High St. They have a way to go before that is complete. It was nice to get the legs turning again and although the weather isn't exactly warm it was a really nice day for a ride. The ride totals were 49.5 km with an average speed of 26.7. The ride time was 1:51 and my heart rate numbers were minimum 83, peak 163 and average 136. The calorie total was 1584 but like I have said before I think that's high so maybe 1000 calories would be more accurate. A real good workout and a nice ride.

The Party, updated.

It is now the day after the party and it is with great relief that I can now announce that people actually showed up and better yet I think everyone had a good time. There is nothing more nerve racking than waiting for everyone to first of all show up and secondly enjoy themselves and I think I can safely say they did. Even the rain didn't put a damper on everyones spirits so it's safe to say the party was a success.
Tesoro's catered the event and I heard all sorts of compliments about the food. Amanda, who works at the Admirals Post did a fantastic job making sure the wine glasses were full and the beer was flowing.
The partiers were mostly my riding and skiing friends who are as much fun to be with at a party as they are on the ski hill or riding their bikes. Chris from Kamikaze Bikes (the best bike shop in the world)  made it over as well with his wife Sarah.
My plan for the party was to have my Xbox Kinect outside on the deck so people could give it a try and inside I had music and pictures running on the TV but no one seemed interested in the Kinect which was fine with me. The rest of the party took place in the kitchen which is par for the course at just about every party I have ever been to. I must admit I drank too much and feel like shit right now so starting tomorrow it's back on the bike and working up a sweat. Maybe I'll take a ride up the Pretty River road and head over to mennonite country near Badjeros. That ride is a good climb to Robroy and then rolling hills the rest of the way.
I almost forgot to mention that my little experiment worked as well. Every time I have people over for dinner or something else I always notice that the weigh scale in the washroom has been moved. I put it up against the wall before the party started and sure as hell it was in a different spot in the morning. Someone is secretly weighing themselves. I should put a very loud alarm on it to expose the culprit.
Today I returned some plates to Tesoro's and then went over to the Post to thank Amanda and Aaron was there and he said he smelled some illegal smile while at the party. I told him I hadn't smelled it and if there was some there, why the hell didn't I get offered a toke or two. Now I get off the phone with Lori and apparently I did get offered some illegal smile and didn't think twice about it. Oops.
I also have to mention that we lost one of our ski buddies last week. Karen Menyes-Gasparini lost her battle against cancer and she will be missed. The few times I saw Karen in the last couple of years she was upbeat and exuberant as usual. It was impossible to tell that she was in a fight for her life. I consider myself lucky to have known her.

Beeeeer!

I cannot tell a lie. I have been drinking beer. Hockley Dark to be specific. I love that stuff. Certainly one of the greatest tasting beers ever. My favourite restaurant Tesoro's is where I first tasted it and it supplanted Guinness as my favourite beer although to be fair they are both very tasty beers. When combined they seem to make posting a blog much more difficult in a hit the right letters in the right order kind of way. On the bright side (I really do have one..............................somewhere) I have now forgotten the point I was going to make in the first place. Lucky for you it was of little importance in the first place. I think I am becoming repetetivetive. I cannot tell a lie (where have I heard that before?) though, I felt I had to post a blog tonight because I hadn't done one in a while (which is a bald faced lie (is that lying while clean shaven?)) DOUBLE BRACKETS!!!! A first! Moving on. I did post a blog a couple of days ago but I had to delete it.     Guinness knows I have been drinking beer so he is looking more needy than ever (or is that my beer induced perception of his wide eyed gawking). I'm not sure. All I really do know is this may be my shortest blog ever. That may be a good thing, for you, not me. I would like to apologise already for this substance abuse aided blog but my apathy is getting in the way. And why is dyslexia so hard to spell. Seems like some kind of cruel joke to me. Fukcers.

500

Holy Mackerel, I have had over 500 hits! Not hits to the head which would actually explain a lot of things about me, hits on this site which I have been doing since mid march. I am honoured that anyone would take time from their day to read my blog. One year ago I didn't even know what a blog was and now I am writing one, albeit making many mistakes along the way. Things like whiting out an entire section of a blog and having no clue how I did it let alone how the hell do I fix it. Thankfully that blog has now disappeared into the archives so I don't have too look at it every time I sign in. It was driving me batty. I have been getting better at starting new paragraphs ( I love the NFP key ) although I still have problems placing pictures where I want them. I suppose there are instructions somewhere and one day I may actually read them and then start putting pictures wherever I want. My typing skills are still severely lacking as well although mandatory typing classes in grade 8 have made a difference.
I must admit that 500 hits isn't quite accurate either because I have clicked the "don't count my browser" button many times but it still seems to be putting my arrivals to the site in the total. Taking into account all the times I go back to correct mistakes and reread passages the total number of hits could be reduced by at least 60. I have had hits from some faraway places like Singapore, Germany, Malaysia, Russia and China but they are probably looking for something else and have somehow stumbled into my blog. Certainly the majority of hits are from Canadian sources and I suspect most of those are from my friends who obviously have some masochistic tendencies, same as myself.
I have tried to keep most of the blogs sports related so I suppose ranting and raving will have to count as a sport. Reports on heart rates can't be riveting reading although it may be interesting to wear the monitor while ranting and raving. Or better yet I'll wear it and then wait for some guy to grab my ass and squeeze a la Charmin and then report how high my heart rate goes. That sounds like......fun?

It's raining, I'm training

It was a dark and dreary day, check that, it is a dark and dreary day here in the beautiful town of Collingwood. It looks like the rain will be with us for a while which is a bit of a drag because I really wanted to go for a ride today. I had even considered going to 3 stage for my first mountain bike ride of the year but it will be more than a bit wet in there I imagine. We used to have an unwritten rule about not riding in the trails when they were muddy because the bikes can really tear a muddy trail up. I have also grown to dislike riding on wet trails because it's nowhere near as fun as in the dry and I can't be bothered to muck up the bike and clean it when I get back home. How sad is that. I guess that's just another indication that my love of mountain biking has waned a bit. Jumping logs and doing the slower technical riding simply doesn't turn my crank like it used to. I still have a need for speed which is why I do really enjoy the rides with Cam and Steve down at Snow Valley. There are certainly technical aspects to the ride but they are done at speed which appeals to me. I truly do enjoy the road riding now and I suppose one of the reasons is I am learning something new. Simply getting on the bike and pedaling, not having to think of anything except my spin. Forgetting about all of the days hassles. After a ride my mind is clear and uncluttered which does me a world of good.
All that being said a road ride is also out of the question today because of the rain so I opted to go downstairs and hop on the rollers and get my spin in that way. It would also help me sweat out last nights beer. I rolled for a little over 36 minutes at an average speed of 41.5 kph which is a good rate and worked up a hell of a sweat. It could only be described as a sprint workout but that's better than nothing.
Tonight I'm off to Jozo's for a "disco" party that Karen Andersen has put together. The invite said to wear what you would have worn in the seventies so it will be easy because my taste in clothing hasn't changed a bit in 40 years. Neither has my dancing ability, or maybe I should call it my dancing disability. That is infinitely more accurate.

Damn it!

I guess Google was having trouble with blogspot.com because I was unable to get into the site for at least the last 12 hours and the last post I did has disappeared from my blog. I had blogged about my bike ride up Grey 19 to Grey 2 and back which really couldn't have been that interesting. I did hit a new recent high for my heart rate of 172 which is not even close to the 186 I hit around 15 years ago. As you get older your heart rate lowers by about 1 beat per year or so. Like I said it wasn't the most riveting writing I've done so it's no big loss that it has been deleted.
I wanted to do this blog last night after I got home from the Admirals Post but because the site was down I couldn't. It would have been a dandy because I had a bit of an issue with one of the other customers there who I have known for several years. This "gentleman" and I use that term lightly likes to grab my ass, sometimes with both hands and squeezing like you would the Charmin. As I have discussed in previous blogs I am uncomfortable with this new phenomenon of guys hugging so it should come as no surprise that I don't want guys fucking grabbing my ass. There was another individual a few years ago who made a habit of grabbing some cheek and I have some opinions on him which I will keep to myself. Suffice to say I think guys who grab other guys asses are the ones who have a problem, not me.
So this "gentleman" comes up behind me and grabs two handfuls of my cheeks. He did the same thing a few weeks ago and I wasn't stern enough with him then so he came back for seconds last night. This time I let him know in no uncertain terms to never fucking do that again. So the little twerp (emphasis on little, extra emphasis on fucking twerp) say if I don't let him grab my ass he's going to punch me, in the face I guess. Now I am a non violent person for the most part and I haven't been in a fight for many years except for a few hockey fights 10 to 20 years ago. I don't think fighting solves anything other than maybe determine who the better fighter is. The truth is though if that little fucking twerp ever decides he wants to grab my ass again I will be forced to restrain him and if he puts up a fight I will have have to drop him. Then possibly he will finally understand that in my tiny little male world men do not grab other mens asses. Ever!
P.S. So I now see that the blog that had disappeared last night has reappeared so this blog is repeating what I related in the deleted blog. I guess I will never know what happened. Damn it!

Into the wind

I went for a nice ride today up Grey 19 and as far as Grey 2 and because I didn't have that much time I turned around and took the same route back. The total time was 1hour 24 minutes for a distance of 36.4 kms with an average speed of 26 kph. It doesn't seem like much but when the wind is in your face every direction you turn it makes for a tough ride. I don't know how that can be possible but some rides it just seems like no matter what direction you are going the wind is in your face. It couldn't have been that bad on the way back though because I did hit 71 kph racing back down Grey 19. That's nowhere near the fastest I have gone downhill but last week I could barely get to 55 kph coming down 19 because the wind blowing up the hill was killer. I averaged 149 beats per minute and I did set a new heart rate record (yea) of 172 beats per minute, eclipsing my old high of 171 set last year climbing Grey 19. I should say that is my recent old guy high, I do remember climbing Scenic Caves Rd about 17 years ago and having a heart rate of 186. That was the high I had preset into the HRM so it's possible my heart was even beating faster that day. It was the first time I had ever done the Caves climb and I made it but that was probably the hardest I have ever worked on a bike. I have also read that your heart rate drops 1 bpm for every year you age so there is a good chance it was over 186. I also wore the hrm to bed the other night to satisfy my own curiosity and I was a bit surprised by the results. I woke up part way through the night and took the transmitter off but it had been going for 2 hours and 23 minutes so it might be accurate. I question the results because the peak was 89, the average was 60 but the number I question is the minimum heart rate which was 33 bpm. That's quite low so I went to google and checked some sites and apparently the heart can drop as low as 20 bpm while sleeping so maybe it's an accurate rate. Seems low but who knows. I have yet to wear it doing household chores but I have to cut the lawn soon so I'll see how many calories get burned doing that. I was also thinking that I could wear the hrm during sex but my "pardon me but would you be interested in participating in a scientific experiment" line has not proved fruitful yet. Maybe I should wear a lab jacket or something the next time I try it.


Grey 19 downhill



Ice climbing

That great picture at the top of the blog was taken 4 years ago when my rock climbing buddies took me to Eugenia Falls. Steve, Rob and Dave are expert rock climbers and were kind enough to let me tag along when they decided to climb the falls. I had done some rock climbing with them and I quite enjoyed it so I figured climbing a wall of ice would be a lot of fun as well. They have all the necessary equipment as well so I just had to show up and the rest was taken care of for me. They first checked out the condition of the ice and decided it looked safe to climb so we rappeled down the the ice wall from the top and prepared for the climb. I should point out that the only preparation I was required to do was stay the hell out of the way and let the experts handle everything. Steve (wearing blue) was the first to climb and he made it look relatively easy. I think Rob (dark green) was next and then Dave (red) and myself (orange) gave it a shot. I started off about 15 feet to the left of where I am going up in the picture.  It felt so much different than anything I had ever done before, what with wearing crampons and having these wicked ice picks in my hands. I got up about 6 feet and lost my grip. Because the rope was on an angle from where it was tied up top, when I lost my grip I started to swing back to the right and as I was sailing through the air I also turned 180 degrees and smashed into the ice wall ass first. I am not sure what was hurt more, my ass or my pride. Graceful it wasn't. I took a bit of a break and then gave it another try on the right side and made it to the top. I remember my fingers being frozen because my hands were above my head while climbing so the blood runs away from them. I remember huffing and puffing  because my technique was lacking which meant I was expending more energy than an experienced climber would. I also remember a great sense of satisfaction at making it to the top. That is one of the coolest things I have ever done. I did have some issues sitting down for the next couple of days. The bruise on my ass looked like a 4 inch high by 3 inch wide Australia so I took a picture of  my left cheek (a new role for Daniel Day Lewis?). A couple of days later I was telling my credit union rep (the wonderful Jessie) of the previous weekends adventure and I figured what the hell so I sent her a picture of the continent on my ass. I think that's the best part of the story. How many people could send a picture of a continent on their ass to their credit union rep? Not many and I would bet my _____ on it.

What the hell happened to me?

So I'm 55 years old now but it seems I am not the person I once was. At some time in this growing up process I have changed and I'm not sure if I like what I am becoming. There was a time many years ago when I knew I was absolutely right about everything, that although I may have occasionally debated this or that with someone I always walked away knowing they were wrong; or better yet I was right. Where did that guy go. I miss him. Sort of. There was a time when  I knew I was strong enough to take anything on no matter how much it weighed on me and handle it with no problem. The stomach ulcers were a small issue but I could handle those as well. I liked that guy in a twisted kind of way. He seems to have disappeared. Where is the guy who had 2 emotions, mad and fucking mad ( by mad I mean angry, not the other mad which will be discussed in blog 74, tentatively titled "Fucking Nuts" or ""Why is the dog looking at me like that"). I liked that guy but maybe the dog didn't. Being mad (as in angry) was so easy, so natural. It shielded me from so much. Where is the guy who was thin and trim, who's knees didn't hurt and who's most worrisome medical issue wasn't gynecomastia. I don't want to wear a Bro! To summarize, What the hell happened to me........and why is the dog looking at me like that?

Mum

It's Mothers day. I didn't realize that at first this morning because my Mum has been gone for so long now. She died in 1978 at the young age of 53 from pancreatic cancer. I do know if you had met my Mum you would have liked her immediately. She was smart and had a sharp wit that she used often. Mum wasn't shy about calling it like it was and I sometimes think that penchant for saying what I think came directly from her. She was born and raised in Glace Bay NS to a family with either 11 or 12 kids, I can never remember because there were either 11 or 12 kids in my Dad's family. I get them mixed up. As a teen she was a star basketball player and travelled around Nova Scotia playing basketball with her best friend Lenny. Her parents had both died while she was a minor so her oldest brother took possession of the house, sold it out from under her and two of her younger sisters so she ended up living with an uncle in New Waterford for a spell. New Waterford was where my Father was born and I suppose they first met there, eventually marrying in Toronto.
Mum was the rock in my life because she did what so many mothers did back then, stayed at home and raised the kids. I never needed a house key because Mum was always there, probably in the kitchen baking pies from scratch or making my favourite fried chicken. She was a massive Leaf fan. When Team Canada beat the Russians in 72 she hadn't been able to get to the washroom because she might have missed some of the game so when Henderson scored the goal she jumped up and peed herself. Now that's a fan. She didn't get to see me play hockey that much and one time when she did I had to get into a fight. She wasn't impressed that I got into a fight but I think she was happy I won it.
She often talked to us about growing up in Cape Breton and frequently mentioned St. Avecs university which I finally realized in my 30's was St. FX (Francis Xavier). As I grew older Mum started to become more of a friend than a mother, someone I could be fairly open with and I really enjoyed the way the relationship was changing. Sadly I believe a lifetime of smoking caught up to her and she slowly succumbed to the cancer. I still remember seeing her the final night struggling for breath. I kissed her goodbye and just went home, too stupid to realize that I should stay at her bedside until the inevitable happened. I shall always regret that decision. I hope I have done her proud, lived a life that would have earned her respect and love. I don't think I can go any further. I love you Mum.



Chris MacDonald, 1925 - forever in my heart



I'm surrounded

So I am at Silvia and Steve's place for dinner last night and I was talking to Terry about the election and I came to the realization that I am surrounded by left wing pinko greenies (how's that for a beautiful oxymoron).  It seems they all voted for the Green party which to me is a wasted vote. Yes Elizabeth May did win a seat, a first for the Greens but the overall vote for the Greens was was down by over 300,000. The only way you could have wasted your vote more would have been to vote Liberal, the party that is now lost in the political wilderness with no leader, no platform, no money and little hope of things changing in the near future.
Terry and I also ended up discussing the new Sun news channel and he mentioned that it was comparable to Fox news in the U.S. I asked him if he had ever seen it and he said no so my question is, how the hell can you form an opinion on something that you have never seen? I have seen Sun news and although I am a regular reader of the Sun (and the National Post) I can't say I thought there was anything special about their news channel. It's definitely right of centre but I have always thought the Sun makes an effort to show more than one side of a political point. Warren Kinsella is a Sun columnist and he is without a doubt a Liberal supporter and makes no bones about it in his column. Now if you want a slanted point of view in the media go pick up a Toronto Star, the worst newspaper in the world. It's sad that trees are killed so this wishy washy, all over the map, we want to be everything to everyone rag can be printed. If there is no story the Star will do it's best to create one. Yes the Sun still has the Sunshine girl and they could probably end that feature but their editorial section is as good as any paper anywhere.
So yes it's true, I am slightly right of Attila the Hun but at the same time I am quite happy to have a bunch of pinko greenies as my friends.

Trivia

I can only watch so much sports through the week so on Wednesday nights I head over to the Admirals Post for a fun night of trivia. I usually partner up with my good friend Joanne and we do fairly well because her areas of knowledge are much different than mine so we know a little bit about a lot of different subjects. Aaron Ferth, my riding and skiing buddy is usually the host of the night and he does a great job of it. There are 5 rounds of questions, a picture quiz, a music round and 2 beer rounds. Aaron has been doing this for a few years but it is still fun and interesting because the topics change every week. This means all the teams will have good nights and bad nights. Aaron, the "trivia master" is always right so when he insists that Greenland is a friggin country and we all know it isn't, never has been, never friggin will be and besides who would want to live there, he is still right and anyone who doesn't friggin agree is S.O.L. The last question of the evening decides the winner many times. It's called final jeopardy and just like the show the team bets a certain number of points depending on their standing and how well they know the final category. Aaron then totals up the points and the winning team gets 2/3rds of the entrance money ($3 / person) and second place gets 1/3rd. If you weren't lucky enough to win the final maybe you got lucky in one of the 2 beer rounds which gets your team a jug of beer. All in all it's a great night out so if you are ever in Collingwood and have nothing to do on a Wednesday night head on over to the Admirals Post for a fun night. Greenland, a country, yea right.
P.S. So after my Greenland rant I get an email from Steve Riedel that says Greenland is an autonomous country which means it is sort of a country but not a sovereign country. Denmark has ruled over Greenland for the past 300 years but on June 21/09 they gave more powers of self rule to the island but it is still not a completely sovereign country and probably will not be for a while. In Wikipedia's list of world countries it is not listed. I hope I have now made clear that Greenland is not a friggin country, that it is sort of a friggin country but it may some day become a friggin country so we were right in the trivia game and Aaron was wrong and nice try Steve, you got me going.
And another thing, why the hell is it called Greenland if it's white 90 % of the year and it was "discovered" by a guy named Eric the Red. It's no wonder the people there are drunk all the time. I need a beer.

Hockey head shots

Unless you have had your head in the sand  in recent months you are probably aware of issue of concussions in the NHL. There seems to be an epidemic of head injuries lately and I have some ideas on why they are happening. Head shots have been a much discussed topic this season but I think some important points have been ignored or left unspoken. Certainly the players are bigger, the equipment is harder, and the game is faster (a bit faster) but there are several other factors as to why I think players seem to be suffering more concussions.
First of all when I played hockey as a youngster and into my 20's (the 60's and 70's) I don't remember anyone ever using the term "finish the check". What that term actually means is hit the player after he has passed the puck, sometimes a good second after he has passed the puck. Our understanding back then was if a player had the puck he was free game for a hit, hopefully a hard and clean one. If the puck was already gone when you got there you did your best to hold up. I think if that rule was in place now there would be a fewer head injuries.
Secondly if you took a run at a player like we see so often today you would receive a charging penalty. The rule back then (possibly one of those unwritten rules) I believe was that you were allowed 3 strides before hitting an opponent. This obviously meant it was virtually impossible to have a full head of steam so you could destroy someone.
Thirdly I believe today's crop of players are lacking in the self preservation skills necessary to avoid some of these catastrophic hits they are taking. I think the fact that they wear face cages for their entire amateur career gives them a feeling of invincibility. They put their heads into danger more often because the fear of a puck or a stick damaging their pretty faces is non existent. We were always aware of these dangers and played accordingly so as not to lose a tooth or suffer a cut that required stitches.
The fourth point is today it is routine to see a player facing the boards with his head down to protect the puck. One of the reasons why they could do this growing up through the hockey ranks is that there was a STOP sign on the back of their sweaters to prevent hits from behind. Why not teach them that facing the boards with their heads down is a real bad idea.
Two other incidents of lack of self preservation are the Raffi Torres hit on Brent Seabrook in the playoffs recently and the incident in junior hockey a few years ago when Mike Liambas ended Ben Fanellis "career". In the Seabrook incident Torres caught him with his head down and laid a wicked check on him. Torres was penalized but in my book he was doing exactly what he was supposed to do. Seabrook had only to take a quick split second look to his left as he headed behind the net and he would have seen Torres but he did nothing and consequently took a heck of a big hit that he could have prevented. In the Fanelli incident the same basic lack of self preservation was Fanelli's undoing. He headed behind his net with no clue of what was going on around him. He should have easily seen Liambas coming from the other direction but seemed completely clueless. Liambas did exactly what he had been taught to do since he was a youngster and that was take the player out. He did his job but because Fanelli was seriously hurt the bleeding hearts started coming out of the woodwork to condemn what was simply a very hard hit on a player who looked like he was out of his element.
In closing I will quote what my Father said to me before many of my hockey games as a healthy reminder. "Keep your head up". That is something I never forgot and may be why I never really took many big hits while I played. Thanks Dad.

It's a majority

 Congratulations to Stephen Harper and Jack Layton I suppose because they were the two winners in last nights federal election. I watched the coverage until the majority government was predicted around 11 and then hit the sack. I personally voted conservative, my vote being for Kellie Leitch who received the nomination in Simcoe-Grey after Helena Guergis was made a much publicized outcast of the party by Stephen Harper. I don't know what exactly happened between her and Harper but I suspect she was turfed because of the actions of her husband Rahim Jaffer. It's not fair but sometimes all that is needed in politics to discredit an MP is guilt by association and I suspect that is the case here. Leitch ended up easily winning the riding.
In my younger days I almost always voted liberal but I think for at least the last 15 years I have voted conservative. Winston Churchill said "if you're not a liberal at 20 you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at 40 you have no brain". Now I know that is a little harsh but I think there is some truth to it. I also think the country is voting conservative because the baby boomers are now in that over 40 demographic. I still like to think that I am quite liberal when it comes to many social issues but when it comes to budgets and spending I believe in restraint, careful spending and no deficits or debt. I understand that we are in a deficit position right now but I think it was neccessary to try the Keynsian  theory of spending to avert a recession which could have led to a depression. Anyways I was happy that Harper won a majority and I hope he lives up to his victory speech promise of working to help all Canadians.
I see that Michael Ignatief has resigned and will now just be a foot note in the political history of Canada. I don't think the Canadian public ever warmed up to him. He may be an "intellectual" but his political IQ now has him riding the short bus to ignominy. He is certainly not completely responsible for the mess that the liberals are in now, that has been in the making for many years. It may be a few more years before they can find a leader with a clear vision and a strong will to bring the party back to it's former prominence.
The NDP are now the official opposition, a first for the party which had an unbelievable showing in Quebec. One of the NDP candidates actually won while spending most of her time in Las Vegas during the campaign. I don't know what to think about that other than they're different in Quebec. I am ambivalent towards the NDP, I feel they serve an important role in our political system but certainly hope they never attain a majority government. I think if they did your children's children would be paying for the socialist spending spree they would go on. Short term gain for long term pain is not a great recipe for a prosperous country.
And finally the Blocheads. Good riddance to the sourpuss traitor Gilles Duceppe and his band of traitors. I am sure they will all have no problem cashing in their pension cheques issued by the country they seem to dislike so much. Hypocrites all of them. Au revoir, ne laissez pas la porte vous frappez dan le cul a la sortie.