Return of the K-Dog and the Adventure Cam

What a blast last night (Friday)!
In the House we had K-Don, K-Dog, K-Rod, K-Dahl, K-Dahl's big sister K-Sian, and K-Lux. K-Santos, K-Joan, and K-Mal, and new peer volunteer K-Hol (who remembers me from subbing at West Van High!)

K-dog...aka keith...aka c'mon daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavvvvvvvvvvvve. i love this guy. he gets everything. he is one of those guys when you say something to the room...he is the one who gets the humour attached to it. I am a wee bit upset that he is on his way out of the house. The bugger is getting too old.
With respect to being too old...a great guy...and a dirty minded SOB is on his way out of the house is going to be missed. Robert has been part of the house for a long time. When I first met him I nearly kicked him in the face with my feet while one of us was on the swing...it was caught on video!
I know this is not the last I will see of him. We can visit by proxy with his little, albeit tougher and sassier, sister.

We had fun tonight. Highlight? Adventure Cam II!

It is a 5 minute video. I thought it was funny! Make sure the volume is up. The K-Don is funny.

K-Dog is going to be tired this week...he did not stop laughing all night...pure, unadulterated, deep and meaningful belly laughs. He laughed so much he was sweating. I was sending zingers his way all night...but he mostly laughed when I wasn't saying anything at all!

Sponsorship - Tongue in Cheek

I understand that amateur athletes and professional athletes are always on the hunt for sponsorship. It is like sales: you have to knock on every door and give your sales pitch.

The difference between me and people who do athletics full time is the 'time' part. Nonetheless I believe I want a sponsorship...two of them!

The first would be a new ride. For those new to the blog I didn't own a bike 4 years ago and borrowed my big brother's bike: a skookum Brodie Enduro. The second year I borrowed it it was unceremoniously stolen from the back of my car the day of the race. Long story short: I ended up buying an old, too small, and scary condition bike on the corner of Hastings and Carroll (the Mecca of stolen goods in Vancouver...I was looking to see if my brother's had made it down yet) at 8am and began the race at 9am. (Long story long--click here!)

The second sponsorship would be a kilt. I own a Utilikilt (from Seattle) and as a joke told them of my intention to do the race in my kilt...but didn't want to ruin the one I own. They didn't respond to my joke.
I also sent a message to BiltKilt.com with same request. They are a canadian company so I am hoping for some homegrown hospitality!

I just though of a third sposorship I need: an Adventure Cam. Last year I mounted my camera on the bars of my bike and took pictures like this:

This year I am looking for a helmet mounted video camera that will take longer shots than one minute!

So there you have it. My three simple sponsorship dreams!

Somebody: Make it so.

Back to the House tonight. It has been a long time since I have been up there. Looking forward to it.

Oceanman 2009 - August 8

Mark the date. This is the one and only time I get to train for the paddle section of the Adventure Challenge each year: www.oceanman.ca
This takes place at Jericho Beach and is a 1k swim, 6k paddle, and a 10k run. My friends Blair and Carol will make up a team for the 3rd year in a row.
We are the volunteers extraordinaire team: in between set up and tear down of the event we do the race. Blair and I share the swim (500m each), tandem kayak (i need better songs to sing this year), and since the run is two parts Carol and I split the run.

It has the best athletic interludes ever. after the swim there was a tire carry, after the paddle there is a stand up paddle, somewhere on the first run is a croquet challenge. Who knows what will happen this year??

A great run

Well, a great run/walk! It was a smoking 29C (my favourite running weather) so I took my sore hamstring and gave it a little wake up.

Adventure Challenge Looms

So the countdown is on. Less than 2 months to go and I can tell by the way my body feels that I am woefully unprepared. I am hamstrung by a hamstring and I refuse to go for a run so I can take the time to stretch it out. School is out and my bike riding distances have dropped from 75k per week to zero. Despite being off for the summer my business quotient has risen through the roof.

My alternative "exercise for pay" options have slowed (this is the program where I do hard labour for you at $25 per hour. I love working hard in the sun hauling dirt, chopping wood, cutting lawns, cleaning roofs. you name it and I will do it!)

What is an adventure racer to do?

I need to be inspired. What would inspire me is if I can pass the $2000 mark in fundraising.
That, and geting on track with my alternative "exercise for pay", would be inspiring.
N'est ce pa?

Back to the house on the 24th. It has been ages since I was there. When you miss a shift...you miss a month. That sucks.

Friday July 3rd

Hey everyone, it's Joan!

Last night's shift was very quiet indeed.

When I stepped into the house, I noticed that the green lamp was on. Leanne later filled me in that a teenager, new to the hospice, had come in for end-of-life care. She warned me that it might be a bit chaotic as extended family members would be coming in later that night. All this meant that us volunteers had to be extra sensitive and quiet with the kids.

Interestingly, there was no-one that we needed to keep quiet that night - no little people! In the house, there were only teens : Kirsten (new to the hospice), good-natured Alan, Stan, and Christina. Kirsten, Alan, and Stan spent time with their family and caretakers, so we only had to look after Christina.

Volunteers that night were me, Martin (subbing for Tony) and Hilary - a new peer volunteer and also my highschool/university buddy! So there were three volunteers, and all our attention was to Christina. What a lucky girl! (her hair is getting ever so long, and her nails were painted yellow with white flowers!)

The first part of the night, us three went outside with Christina for a walk around the house and to enjoy the last few rays of sunshine. Later, we let Martin go home, and Hilary, Christina, and I sat in the alcove to watch "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." So entertaining to see the actors all young and cute!

And..that was it! Til next time...