KAMPAI!

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for life. Show a man how to make sushi, and he's eating in heaven! Tonight, for our latest company "event", we were graced by the expertise of Steve, one of the head sushi chefs at Sakana Grill. Sitting around a teppanyaki grill, 18 of my colleagues and I had our own bamboo mats, aprons and tons of ingredients. First, Steve distributed the sake, a warm rice wine. We then toasted ("Kampai!") together, the first of many to come in the night, and he proceeded to show us how to make a basic cucumber roll, a salmon roll, an outside California roll (outside, because the rice faces outwards, instead of the seaweed), and the Sakuna special house roll. Of course, we got to eat everything he made plus anything we made as well (and most of us washed it down with sake or plum wine). Wow, there was so much food! We were basically told to eat half of what we made and then transform the remaining half into a creative presentation that would be judged, the winner taking home a bottle of sake. Most people were beyond stuffed after eating half. Well, knowing that this meal was coming, and having a severe craving for sushi for a few weeks now, I was prepared to eat everything. Needless to say, I did not bring home the sake because I ate my presentation! They let us take the mats home, though. Now I just have to remember all the technique that we were shown...









YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE CLIPLESS PEDALS UNTIL YOU CAN USE THEM DURING CITY RIDING. Having gotten fairly comfortable with these new pedals, I decided to ride into town for our company event. I approached an intersection that is currently under construction, where the bike path has been "displaced": a barrier now blocks the original path and a new path has been created. So, I descend this new path towards the intersection. There's no much room from when the path ends and the road starts, so a rider has to break pretty hard to avoid throwing oneself into traffic. As I was watching the flurry of cars approach quickly, I had to also maneuver around loose rocks and construction debris. In that moment, I forget about my pedals. So, as I quickly stopped, I started toppling. Funny how time all of a sudden grinds to a halt when something terrible (well, in my case, embarrassing) is about to happen. It wasn't a hard fall, but I can recall every sliver of time as it occured. Of course, only AFTER my fall, was I unclipped from the pedals. And of course, the group of young high schoolers I passed at the top of the path saw the whole thing and were just howling.

With just 6 weeks left before the Calgary Marathon, I'm finding that most of my "spare" time (i.e. when I'm not in the office or hosting royalty) is spent on the Bow River Pathway. Since the marathon route will criss-cross this pathway, it makes for good training for the actual race. There's even a nice hill by where I usually start that has a 45 degree plus incline that goes for at least 200 metres (although my legs are usually burning by the time I do 100 up that slope!). WHAT IS UP WITH THE GEESE HERE? On a recent run, I approached one of these creatures. Or, should I say, one was coming at me! And it was hissing!! I seriously thought this thing was going to lunge at me and take a bite out of my leg. Then, it happened again just a few days later. I didn't notice it the first time, but nearby, was another goose and about 5 or 6 gosling. These gosling were just wandering around, bumping into each other and pecking at the ground. So, it appears that the aggressive stance by the attacking goose was a way of protecting its family. What an interesting display of familial care in the animal kingdom!

Speaking of familial care, I sometimes hear the funniest things on my run:

Grandmother: Ok, Charlie, you have to wear this helmet (click)
Charlie: Oww, oww, oww, oww
Mother: Mom, the helmet is pinching Charlie!!
Grandmother: Did his head get bigger?
Mother: No, just his hair.