Chairman of the Bored ...

Geez - I'm bored today. It drives me crazy when my kids tell me that they're bored, but man I am feeling it today. My kids are away this week, and I'm on vacation. I want fun. I want exciting places to go, people to meet. So far ... nuthin'.

OK, so it's not exactly nothing. I did meet a guy last night for a "date" (I prefer to call it a meeting). It was the first time I was meeting this guy after more than a month of emails and talking on the phone. He looked nothing like his picture. I hope the disappointment didn't show (too much) on my face. Meanwhile, he's looking at me like he just hit the freaking jackpot. Anyhow, I broke one of my rules and met this guy for dinner. It's usually coffee or a drink - something quick so I can hightail it out of there if I need to. But this guy drove all the way from London and I felt obligated to give him more than just an hour over coffee. Nice enough guy, but I found myself tuning him out ... story after story about all the drunkfests that he's had. Buddy - wouldn't brag about your drinking problem. And we were complete opposites - if he had it his way he'd pave over all of nature; I'm a tree-hugger in his eyes (he actually called me that). He hates vegetables; I love them. You get the picture. Couldn't wait to get out of there.

Problem is that I'm feeling rather frisky these days if ya know what I'm sayin'. I've seen this other guy a couple times now ... 44, lives about 1/2 hour away. Nice guy. Don't think he's long-term material but we have established that we can have a lot of fun together. Is it wrong to want late night booty calls from him? Why do I feel like Samantha from SATC lately? Another guy that I'm currently talking to (but haven't met in person) looks like a keeper. Problem is that he lives in TO and now that I'm off work for a month, meeting him isn't convenient. He's European, 5 years younger, and looks like a cross between Ben Affleck and Ethan Hawke. Yummy.

So what have I done today? Cleaning. And took my cats to the vets. And did some organizing for my trip. Yawn.

Vacay heaven

I officially started my 1-month vacation today. But do you think that I slept in? I was actually up at about 4am because I had a really bad dream about my kids. I dreamt that we were taking the train across country, and just before Calgary I had to get off the train because my ticket didn't cover me any further. So I hauled my luggage off the train and left E and B to fend for themselves. But then E caught up with me - he left B all alone on the train to Vancouver! Should I even bother analyzing this ... perhaps a bit of pre-travel worries?

We're leaving for Latvia (and hopefully Estonia) on Sunday. I'm not going to even think about packing until Saturday. I'm a list writer so I'll just write a bunch of lists for what I should bring. We've been planning this trip for almost a year - I can't believe that I'm only a few days away from finally seeing the country that I've heard so much about from my mother. She is so thrilled about this trip - my kids are coming, as well as my sister, my brother, and my sister-in-law.

A big Happy Birthday to my little B who turns 12 today!

What I love ..... this week's version

- I love getting up in the morning and reading the paper with my morning coffee
- I love watching movies with my little B because he still likes to snuggle
- I love my bed
- I love planning for big trips (Latvia in 1 week!)
- I love meeting new people
- I love flirting ... on the phone, over email, in person ... all fun!
- I love having a cool house to come home to on a hot, muggy day
- I love discovering new restaurants, especially ones that have sorts of yummy veggie fare
- I love the taste of cold beer while sitting on a patio on a warm summer night (especially nice when you can combine it with some flirting ...)
- I love it when I have really productive days at work
- I love hearing good news from my friends ... especially if it's something that was a long time coming
- I love finding new friends on Facebook
- I love spending time by myself with a good book

Happy weekend everybody!

I must be crazy .....

I'm actually thinking of jumping out of a plane. While it's in the air. Really, really high up in the air.

Sky-diving is something that I always wanted to try when I was younger. But then I had kids and it just lost its appeal. (Or maybe I was just too lazy to write my will.) But now I've been talking to somebody who took his first jump a couple years ago and he has since done 160 jumps! He told me what a rush it was. He said that you don't really have the sensation of falling because there is a constant strong wind on you - kinda like what it would feel like if you stuck your entire body out of your car window as it travelled down the highway at 120km/hr. (Although he did say "don't look down - look at the horizon!") For first timers, there are 2 instructors holding on to your harness, and once you deploy your parachute, they let go. And then there's a guy on the ground who is communicating with you through an earpiece who tells you how to steer the parachute so you land in the right place.

Sounds easy, right? I think that the hardest part would be sitting in the airplane as you wait to reach altitude for the jump. I might need a diaper for this! My kids think I should try it (but to put that in perspective, they'd also think it was cool if I climbed Mt Everest). Stay tuned ... I have a few more weeks of summer to think about it ...

How to Make a Woman Happy

It's not difficult to make a woman happy. A man only needs to be:

1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynaecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
44. compassionate
WITHOUT FORGETTING TO:
45. give her compliments regularly
46. love shopping
47. be honest
48. be very rich
49. not stress her out
50. not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO:
51. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
52. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
53. give her lots of space, never worrying about where she goes
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT:
54. Never to forget:* birthdays* anniversaries * arrangements she makes

HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY
1. Show up naked
2. Bring food

Disclaimer: We're not really that high-maintenance, are we?

Natural highs

1. Falling in love.
2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.
3. A hot shower.
4. No lines at the supermarket .
5. A special glance.
6. Getting mail (like real snail-mail).
7. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.
8. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
9. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.
10. A bubble bath.
11. Giggling.
12. Finding a 20-dollar bill in your coat from last winter.
13. Laughing at yourself.
14. Running through sprinklers.
15. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.
16. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
17. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
18. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).
19. Having someone play with your hair.
20. Road trips with friends.
21. Swinging on swings.
22. Making chocolate chip cookies.
23. Holding hands with someone you care about.
24. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
25. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.
26. Watching the sunrise.
27. Knowing that somebody misses you.
28. The beach.
29. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
30. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.

Did I miss any?

(With thanks to my friend V for sending me this wonderful email to remind me of all that I should be thankful for.)

Adventure of a Lifetime

On the weekend of June 21-22, I took part in the inaugural Ride to Conquer Cancer for Princess Margaret Hospital. I originally signed on for the ride back in July 2007 when I was convinced to join a team of riders from PMH - that's us in the picture ... the RMP SoBs (not what you think - Staff on Bikes). I had no idea what a truly inspiring and amazing event it would be.

We started on the Friday (day 0) where we had to check in our bikes, pick up our jerseys, etc. at the CNE. Wow - what a sight! A gigantic warehouse filled with bikes and people. I found out that there were 2,850 riders! It took me more than an hour to weave through all of the different lines to get my check-in completed. Our team met for a heavy carb-loading dinner afterwards ... first time I was meeting some of the people on my team. What a great group - 4 cancer survivors amongst us (ranging in age from 26 to 45).

Day 1 was crazy! I barely slept the night before and couldn't really stomach much to eat that morning. I made my way to the start line before the other members of my team and managed to get fairly close to the start of all the riders. (If you have access to my Facebook, check out the pictures and what the start looked like with almost 3000 bikes!) Anyhow, the start went off without a hitch - I was worried about starting with this many people especially since my cycling shoes clip into the pedals and wipeouts happen easily. Anyhow, the organization and support on the route out of Toronto was amazing - roads closed, people directing traffic, pit stops - unbelievable. There were groups of people that we would encounter along the way who would be cheering us on, and yelling "thank you for doing this!". I had tears in my eyes at times. After one particularly gruelling hill outside of Milton, there was a group of people standing outside their house holding a sign that said "A cancer survivor lives here - Thank you!" And a little girl was cheering for us and running with the bikes - it was amazing.

After 110km (the last 10km in the pouring rain), I made it to camp. We had a 2km hill right at the end of the ride to get up the Hamilton mountain (not so easy after you've just done 100km!). We were treated to an amazing dinner, a band - everything that we needed we had for us. Massages, food, drink (beer - free beer!), pain killers (needed a few of those) - it was absolutely incredible. At about 7pm they interrupted the ceremony that they were doing to announce that the last rider had just come in (to put this in perspective ... I finished at 12:40 and it was now 7). When we found out that this rider had done the 110km WITH ONE LEG we all stood and gave her a standing ovation. She tearfully told us that she had lost her leg (at the hip) to cancer when she was 9 and she was doing this ride for all of the friends that she has lost to cancer. She also said "I wasn't expecting this reception when I got here ... I was just trying to finish the damn ride!" Anyhow, day 1 ended in tent city (picture over a 1000 tents in a field - somebody described it as looking like the civil war!)

Day 2 started off a bit rainy as we left Hamilton. The ride to Niagara Falls was a lot harder than I thought because they took us on a lot of hilly country roads. My legs were a bit sore, but I managed. Again - people cheering, pit stops galore - and I discovered that gummy bears make a good snack when you're on the bike (must be the sugar). Anyhow, 105km to NF for a grand total of 215km in 2 days. The finish area was lined with people cheering and clapping, cow bells going off, the announcer going nuts when riders were coming in - it was the perfect way to end things. You got off your bike and people were congratulating you, and thanking you - complete strangers. Thousands of people there, and again - food, drink, support. My team hung around waiting for everyone to finish (last on our team finished about 3 hours after I did) and waiting for the bus/train home.

Here's the stats for the event:
- we raised $14 million for cancer research!
- I personally raised almost $4000 (surpassing the required amount of $2500)
- somebody actually raised $250,000 on their own, and one team raised almost 1/2 million!
- 2,850 riders
- I rode 110km in just over 4 hours on day 1; 105km in just under 4 hours on day 2

I've already signed up for next year ... so yes, I'll be hitting y'all up for some more money!