"Da-Da"

So on the way home last night I was pleasantly surprised ... being a Monday it was great to be greeted this way. Gaven has now officially associated the words "da-da" with me !

He now hears my voice and I hear him say "da-da" and watch him come around the corner pointing and smiling. While these were the first words he had learned, they were generally used for everything. Now he has associated them to me, and always points to me when he says them.

Now we really need to work on "ma-ma" to complete the circle :)

Toronto zoo

Well it was another milestone yesterday as Gaven got to go to the Metro Toronto Zoo! Myself, Mom, big brother Wyatt and Gaven all piled into the Volvo and headed to the zoo for what was sure to be a fun filled day with great weather to boot.

Gaven loved every minute of it, and spent his day amazed as he got to see all kinds of bazaar creatures and animals. His first stop was the Giraffes, and he was wide eyed and shocked at these amazing creatures. He got very excited and kept pointing and trying to get over to see them. I think he wanted to jump out of his stroller and go play with them

Another highlight of the day was the trip to the Stingray Bay. This is where he got to actually lean in and pet some stingrays while they swam by. Getting to interact with Animals is always exciting for children.

One final stop for the day was the Siberian tigers, where he grunted and roared at them without any prompting. Funny how they recognize them from storybooks and know how to act and what sounds to make.

Overall it was a fantastic day had by all, and I definitely will make another trip with them to the zoo as it never grows old.

Weekend ride

So for Canada day we went out for a ride to the nearby park. Gaven has taken to the ride along chariot and loves it soo much that he points and says "that" every time we pass by it. Of course I can not deny him when he asks, so we go for a ride (secretly I love it too)

I took some photo's of the chariot for those who have been asking me ... it is a great little toy, and connects with ease. And yes, that is Gaven's favorite stuffed animal (Kangaroo) that rides along with him when his brother is not in the chariot.

PLUGn PLUGn PLUGn

Shameless plug time.....
Keep an eye on http://kristiankataila.com over the next few days ... I have a deal brewing for all you supplement users out there. For those close to me, or that work out with me can probably guess what it is :)

So visit the site daily and look for new news !

First Steps

So it happened ... when you are least expecting it they do the most amazing things. My little guy took his first steps the other day. we were sitting in my mothers living room, watching him play at the table when he turned around, looked at me smiled and took a few steps (3 in total) to get to me across the room.

Amazing, simply amazing how natural it all looked! I was in shock and turned to my mother to find her face was the same... we both smiled of course and he caught on that he had done something we liked so he smiled and clapped.

---------

Mothers day was today and we had a party at for Collette, my mother, and my sister who is now a mother as well. Wyatt, Gaven and I cooked up a storm while the mothers relaxed outdoors on the deck. We had quite a feast ....

Happy Mothers day to all mothers out there, I hope you had a great day

Little Leafs fan

Was dressing my little guy up the other day and could not find his Dallas Cowboy's outfits, nor his Texas Longhorns one either. So I decided to put him in some local fair and take him out. Man, people can not resist a baby in a team jersey...got tons of comments everywhere we went !


Look how cute

Loooong time

So it has been so time since I last posted here, and I want to ensure everyone it is not due to Laziness but rather just a hectic life! Things have been swirling around since Gaven's first birthday as Summer weather finally arrived.

So we have been spending lots of time with Gaven and his big brother Wyatt riding outdoors in our new Chariot child trailer made by MEC. The boys absolutely love getting into their little trailer, packing a picnic and riding to a local park to play. They sit in the back giggling together playing around and laughing. Nothing makes me happier than to have the boys playing together in this way, warms the heart.

This weekend promises to be nice again, so I will get some photos of how cute they look all tucked in the back of the carrier before we head out to the park !

Swimming lessons

So this Sunday will be Gaven's second day at the swimming lessons held at the Tansley woods pool. This pool is total designed and geared for the kiddies so the absolutely loooove it. Gaven was all smiles when he went there last time, and I an hopefully he will recognize this pool on his second trip.

Since his mom will be in the pool with him this time, I will snap some shots of our little water baby frolicking around to post here.

Keep tuned for some fun photos :)

1 Year old

So my boy Gaven turned 1 year old on the weekend, and what a celebration. He was surrounded by family and friends alike to have a party and let him know he is loved. It is funny how quickly it came up and how I can still remember his first weeks as an Infant.

I had many people asking me what lavish plans we had for his 1 year mark, and my response was always the same ..... we were going to have a simple party, but ensure he was aware it was for him, and him only. He truly and thoroughly enjoyed himself, and when it came time to sing happy b-day he squealed with delight and clapped his hands cheering.

Now that this momentous occasion is over we are teaching him to use all his gifts which will take time. He got a great trike which he can "ride" already and is loving this already. Also got him a gift that he and I can share together (bike trailer for behind my bike) which he loves as the air gets in his face !

1 year down Gaven ... lots more to go, I look forward to sharing each and every one with you

Love Daddy

:)

http://www.kristiankataila.com

Okay, so its done ... launched .. .completed, whatever you want to call it :)

So over the past weeks I have been busy getting sponsors lined up, media bits read, text written, race scheduled, all of that fun stuff in addition to my normal life. Yes, busy is the word your looking for but now the web page is done so I will begin writing here again.

I have missed writing a few times a week, getting my idea's out onto paper and contemplating them. So to those of you still around ... thank you

I will start getting some content back here, starting with an update about my son Gaven who turns 1 year old this week (April 11th)

Until then, please take a moment and view http://www.kristiankataila.com .... this is the home of all my biking activity and none of that will get posted here anymore :)

B-day

Yup, it came at he usual time each year and presented me with another year to add to my growing collection (33 of them now)

I had a great day with family, got some nice cards and gifts, but most of all enjoyed some great weather, and time enjoying everyone company. It is my first b-day since returning back to Canada from Texas, and I really did enjoy the opportunity to spend it with family.

Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday, and I am sure as long as thins year is a fruitful as the last ... that it will be a great year :)

http://kristiankataila.com

Okay, long day, learned Flash, PhotoShop, XML, HTML all for the sake of my webpage. I clearly have too much time on my hands.

Take a visit, drop me ideas but remember this is VERY new and has not been refined for content nor frameworks. I just wanted to get the format of the site completed today.

Enjoy

Web page coming soon

So I have officially purchased a domain name, and set up a hosting package for my new en devour of http://kristiankataila.com

I will be designing this page over the coming weeks, and it will basically be hosting my biking repository. Items such as the following will be there:
- Race schedule
- Training tips and results
- Supplements results
- Race results
- Photography section
- Video Section
- Current equipment and sponsor section
- hopefully a biking blog as well

As soon as this venture is completed this area (kristiankataila.blogspot.com) will become a dedicate area for thoughts and my son's growth documentation

Try the link whenever you feel like.. it will be change allot over the next while, so don't laugh too much ;-)

http://kristiankataila.com

Marzocchi Recalls

Marzocchi Recalls Bicycle Forks Due to Crash Hazard and Risk of Injury during Repair
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed.

Name of Product: Bicycle Forks
Units: About 70
Manufacturer: Tenneco-Marzocchi s.r.l., of Bologna, Italy

Hazard: The suspension system on bikes with the recalled forks could become completely compressed and fail to return to its original position after a forceful landing. This can cause riders to lose control of the bicycle and crash. The forks can also expand forcefully if repair is attempted by the consumer, posing a risk of serious injury.
Incidents/Injuries: The firm has eight reports of damaged forks outside the U.S., including a report of an injury from a fall.

Description: The recalled bicycle forks were sold for installation on mountain bikes. The recall involves certain 2008 model year 888RC3 and 888RC3WC suspensions with date codes beginning with T07D07, T07D08 and T07D09. The forks are white or black with red and black artwork on the legs.

Sold at: Various bicycle parts distributors and retailers nationwide from July 2007 through September 2007 for between $1,000 and $1,700.
Manufactured in: Taiwan

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled bicycle forks immediately, and return them to the dealer where purchased for a free repair. Consumers should not attempt to repair the forks.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Marzocchi at (800) 227-5579 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, e-mail the firm at Techinfo@Marzocchiusa.com, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.marzocchi.com

Great weather weekend

Well as most of the people from this area know it was a great weather weekend, we had two days above 10 degrees!!

When this happens you end up seeing everyone outdoors playing and frolicking around enjoying the sunshine. This weekend was no exception and the parks, pathways, and public spaces were filled with happy children, families, and outdoors lovers alike. I got up early both days, tuned my bikes (both my XC bike for a mountain bike ride, and my roadie) and headed out in the warmth each afternoon.

i think all the winter training has helped as I was ready for the rides, and seemed a little extra confident than I usually am the first time out. Hills seemed somehow shorter, less steep, and headwinds never seemed to play a factor in my rides. All of this just reaffirms what I already know.....
"To be Prepared, is to be successful"

Hope to see everyone out this coming weekend for a ride :)

PureSport

Well today was my last package of PureSport drink mix and let me tell you ... .I am hooked. Now when I say absolutely hooked, I mean hooked. I ran out yesterday, and already my workout today was not nearly as good as expected.

so just after a few week to a month of using the product, my body has risen to higher levels in the workouts, it now expects to have the support it needs to excel in the high end range! I am so pleased with the results I have had to date that I am planning a full report to post here by the end of the weekend.

All I can say in the meantime is that to anyone out there considering some sort of workout drink mix, this IS your answer point blank.

http://www.puresport.us/

GDP vs. National Debt

So I was recently having a discussion about our Nations debt. Being that I work in the finance sector, people seem to gravitate toward you for questions regarding all things money (even though I am a full time computer nerd)

So recently we were having a discussion around the gross national debt and what the number was. I t was very surprising to find that nobody new what it was, and more surprising still that we were so far off the number. What would you think it was .. take a guess before reading on and see how close you are. I think Canadians believe we are much stronger than we truly are in terms of our nations wealth.

Secondly, as most things in this nation ... i found it very difficult to dig up this information. I have been trying to search using google, search tools on government web pages, and other means for some time to find this data and others that we recently of interest to me (what the distribution curve of Canadian salaries was).

Anyhow, here is what I found ... very surprising to me

Going from $559B to $467B of debt in the last nine years, taken as a flat-line projection, means we could pay the debt off in 46 years if we kept up this pace on average. But you know that won't happen given the current economic climate.

Now I should be perfectly clear here: in all of the above, I am mixing some terms. I use the phrase "net debt" as most of us think of it: liabilities minus assets. However to be absolutely correct, I should be using the phrase "net federal accumulated deficit". What a mouthful. Here is the difference between the two, according to the Receiver General:

1. Accumulated Deficit: the difference between the Government’s total liabilities and its assets.
   
2. Net Debt: the difference between the Government’s total liabilities and its financial assets.
   That one word "financial" is important. Here is how: when considering "net debt", total liabilities are reduced only by financial assets, as non-financial assets cannot normally be converted to cash to pay off the debt without disrupting government operations.
   

So as a personal analogy, they wouldn't count my vehicle because if I sold it then I couldn't use it to get to work and earn money any more. It's a matter of choice really whether you count it or not in your list of assets. I've chosen to count it, but others I'm sure would argue against doing that.

We're talking about $523 Billion versus $467 Billion: either way, we still owe too much. And saying that our debt is minuscule compared to the United States with almost $10,000 Billion ($10 Trillion) in debt is no defense at all.

Stay on the road please ....

After a long cold winter in Southern Ontario many mountain bikers are just itching to ride. Between abundant snow and very cold temperatures, off road enthusiasts have been largely kept off their bikes for weeks. The arrival of record warm weather today [Friday, March 6th] means that many want to head out on to the trails right away.

There is a problem. The frost line went very deep this winter, thanks to the cold temperatures. Even though the surface has thawed, the ground is still frozen just below the surface. To make matters worse, the frozen ground prevents the snowmelt from sinking in any further. This means the thawed layer at the surface is absolutely saturated with water, so it is very intolerant of any disturbance. Go riding along a trail and you'll cut through the thawed layer right down to the frozen ground. The thawed layer will end up with trenches from the tire tracks, which will persist even when the soil dries out.

Southern Ontario has had winters like this before. When it happened in the 1990's, and in 2003, the erosion was terrible and some land managers nearly had mountain biking banished. It took the efforts of a lot of people to persuade them that we shouldn't be kicked out permanently. It could be a tough lesson if we abuse the trails now.

If you can be patient, please stay off of the trails until the ground thaws. If you just have to ride, then stick to where there is still snow, because that is an indication that the ground is still frozen. As soon as the soil becomes visible is when the problems start. Bare, wet ground needs to be avoided at all costs.

The first areas that will be available for riding are those with abundant rock or sandy soil, or those with a gravel surface. Talk to your local land manager and ask when they think the trails will be ready. Or even just go out for a road ride. Remember that a day with a half-assed ride is still better than a day without riding!

Cold ... Really ?

I have to say, after a week of relatively mild weather, this week has well .... just plain sucked! What is it with Winter this year, why wont it just leave already and allow the glorious warmth of Summer to grace our lives.

Yes, I am missing Texas, so all you people living there stop reminding me of how you are all in shorts, T's, and running outside to get tans on your lunch break with 30 degree Celsius heat !

How have others been able to adjust when moving back to colder climates? How do you adjust to having seasons again ? Please help .. I need to know the tricks

Monthly Readship Growth - III

Well, here is the end of my vacation week, and I will leave you with a wrap up. Here is how our readership has grown, we now have over 50 cities! A new twist this month is the relative ranking in terms of visits.... the more you visit, the higher your ranking ;-) Shameless plug,I know!

Rank City
1 Oakville
2 Georgetown
3 New York
4 Burlington
5 Denton
6 Phuket
7 Toronto
8 Milton
9 Austin
10 Barrie
11 Ostermundigen
12 St Catharines
13 Shanghai
14 Washington
15 Carrboro
16 Quebec
17 Brooklyn
18 London
19 Mont-Royal
20 Melbourne
21 Brisbane
22 Etobicoke
23 Prague
24 Belmont
25 Los Angeles
26 Bramalea
27 Weston
28 Dundas
29 Santa Rosa
30 Brierley Hill
31 Scottsdale
32 La Serena
33 (not set)
34 Stratford
35 Hochdorf
36 Mc Kinney
37 Islington
38 Round Rock
39 Guangzhou
40 Victoria
41 Brampton
42 Red Deer
43 Harwood Heights
44 Pinetown
45 Dallas
46 Hamilton
47 Montreal
48 Scarborough
49 West Lebanon
50 St Louis

Week 1 with PureSport

So I took a week off to househunt and train for my first upcoming race back here in Canada. While I did not have any luck with the offers I put in on homes (others beat my price) I did have great success with my week of dedicated training.

As I had posted earlier last week I have taken on a new sponsor in the sports supplement category with www.puresport.us , and was going to keep some detailed notes as to its effectiveness. I have to admit i got very excited the first few days of training, but resisted the temptation to post right away. I did this with the hopes of gathering a full weeks worth of data to have a diverse results to post.

So this week was a SOLID training week that would have been impossible with out the aid of supplements to help rebuild for each coming day. The workouts were long and at times arduous, and I am sure i would have given up on many of them without support. Here is a quick and dirty outline of what I did:

================================================================
Saturday
Morning
2.0 hr baseline ride
Evening
1.0 hr Chest max weight
================================================================
Sunday
Morning
1.0 hr run
Evening
1.5 hr Arms endurance weights
================================================================
Monday
Morning
1.5 hr interval ride
Evening
1.0 hr Back power weights
================================================================
Tuesday
Morning
1.0 hr active recovery ride
Evening
1.5 hr Shoulders range of motion weights
================================================================
Wednesday
Morning
2.0 hr baseline ride
Evening
Yoga
================================================================
Thursday
Morning
1.5 hr VO2Max ride
Evening
1.5 hr Back reverse pyramids
================================================================
Friday
Morning
2.0 hill ride
Evening
1.5 hr Chest incrementing pyramids to burnout
================================================================

So, what did I find with using PureSport product? Let me see if i can summarize by splitting it up into the two products I used......

Workout drink mix - This blend supersedes pure carbohydrate base drinks by a longshot. While on my long baseline rides, or VO2Max days I calculated a gain of 18 - 23 % increased time in my heartratezone. This is a significant achievement, and anyone who trains seriously knows this is not due to simple human improvement (normally expecting a 2% gain each time). Also the workout formula helps my body keep running without cannibalizing muscle tissue for proteins. Overall great product, and will definitely be kept in my regiment.

Recovery drink mix - Here is the product that is harder to measure in terms of quantitative scientific measures. Most of the effects are simply "how you feel" type observations rather than hard facts. All I can say is that each day when I woke in the morning (and expected to be in pain from the prior days workout) I was relatively chipper and ready to go out of the gate. I believe that the drink helps replace absolutely vital glycogen stores for the next day much faster than any other product I have used to date.


Also had quite a few people asking me what the product was, and where they might be able to get some to try. I think I wight need to talk to my friends in the south to see what plans they have for getting it into Canadian markets, and help them with finding a distributor.

I will post again after another few weeks of training as to how the training is going, and will summarize the training log as to how it is helping out.

PS, did I say how much I love PURESPORT today !
www.puresport.us

First Haircut

Well, yesterday was Gaven's first haircut .. and he loved it! He is such a great little guy, never crys, never complains, just a very easy going domineer .... He was actually more curious than anything else. He kept turning around trying to figure out what the lady with the scissors was doing ?

I now have some curly golden locks for my keepsake book, and the little guy looks more like a little man!

Each and Everyday ?

I have often wondered, as I am reasonably sure most males in their 30's have, if I could have played some sport full time or professionally as a career. Just about every guy I know has sat and uttered the words "I bet you I could have gone pro if it wasn't for ...xxxxx " just fill in the blank with some scape goat reason like kids, wives, injury ... you get the picture.

Well ... as I have the week off and am training pretty fiercely for my race in 61 days I am here to remind everyone of just how silly those comments are. Here I am at the 4th day of solid hard (3 -4 hour day training workout schedule) realizing just how difficult doing this as a career would be. Think about one of those days when you get a truly great workout in and the next day you end up cramped, soar, or unable to sit properly. Well now take that feeling, amplify it, and put yourself in a situation where this is perpetual! I am at only day 4 of 9 and already considering a day off to rest .... sheesh !

The other half of this situation that I am finding aggravating is the body fat content monitoring. Today's athletes are not simply just strong people. They are well balanced machines, great BMI, powerful muscle tissue, low body fat, and extremely flexible. As I am hoping to do well is my return to bike racing, I have been paying special attention to my body fat level .... that had got above 9 % while eating Texas steer and drinking Mexican beer and living in Dallas. I have been keeping a food journal, paying special attention to my cardio workouts, and logging my body fat each and every day hoping to get down to 5 or 6 % again. Not so easy now that we are above 30 let me tell you. You may make strides one day and drop a percent, but your body seems to want to balance back off at a higher number and will invariably put some back on.

So what is all this ranting for one might ask? Well I am just here to remind all of you armchair athletes that ever utter the words "I bet I could have been ...." of the reality of just how difficult and silly those dreams are. Wives, print this off as evidence, store it away, and keep it handy the next time your ego driven spouse say something along those lines. Use this as a reminder to him of just how hard it would be, heck even have them call me to explain ...

I will leave you with something I heard Lance Armstrong say at a conference in Texas that sums up my thoughts for the day. If you do not share the same sentiment, then you were NOT meant to be a pro athlete so just let sleeping dogs lay .....

"Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever"

If you cant think like this .... well then stay on the couch ;-) As for me .. in writing down this rant I have recharged, and am ready to head back to the gym for a painful workout .. and get a leg up on my competition !

OLPC

One Laptop for every child, is an organization dedicated to bringing technology to developing countries classrooms where it is needed most

http://laptop.org/en/

For a donation of 199.00 (tax deductible of course) you can provide a single laptop to the program that will go developing country classroom. For some time now a smaller pilot program was launched to study how having a laptop could effectively help teach children in developing countries. Being that the education system was developing in these area's, even the systems that produced instructors was lagging significantly. Through the connectedness of the Internet, many of these programs and instructors have found very innovative ways to get help from around the globe. The have accelerated there learning curve, and have access to such a variety of educational tools, e-textbooks, virtual labs, and things that otherwise would not have been possible with out a PC.

I had been involved with this program over 10 years ago when we started sending old discarded laptops from my university that we had refurbished to send over. I am extremely proud to see how far this has now come and that the people are now dedicated to getting a single laptop per child. I have no doubt this will help the next generation become aware of how humans are intricately related in this world. How we all play a part in keeping our planet green, and can co-operate globally to stop global warming. How we might also fight disease and famine together as humans. I do believe (which is why I helped out over 10 years ago and again today) that education will be the saving grace for the planet, and that we all must understand the impacts we have.

So if you are looking for a way to donate this year and have yet decided, may I suggest the OLPC website for review.

http://laptop.org/en/

Vacation day 1

That's right everyone ...vacation time for me.. It may be rare, but I do take it and have decided to ensure I am technology free (relatively) this week. I will have no blackberry following me everywhere, no email to check, no work period.

I will try to post up here each day (my only technology access I promise ;-) and will find something interesting to write about.

I have some pretty lean plans this week, they are as follows:
1) Spend as much time with my young son Gaven as possible, he is growing so fast
2) Search for a home, and put in some offers hopeful to find a place by weekend
3) Train each and every day for 3 hours (only 62 more days left to prepare for race day)
4) Eat exceptionally clean food, to help the above
5) Post on how the regiment of PureSport product are helping the training effectiveness and recovery

Should be a fun week, and I might need another vacation to recover from all the training !

PureSport

As all of you are aware the bike racing season is coming up rapidly. I have been updating everyone on a variety or topics such as custom bike builds, laying out the race schedule, training regiments and of course teams and sponsors.

I have recently added another great sponsor through a good friend from back in Texas. Training is such a key element to success that I am happy to let everyone know that PureSport (http://www.puresport.us/) will be a welcome addition to my supplement regiment.

Puresport is not just a run of the mill sports drink, but rather an Athlete designed specific training aid. Some of the worlds top athletes have had a hand in developing, testing, and refining the product to perfection. Many Olympians such as Michael Phelps use this product to help them to the podium. I have hopes and aspirations that is will do the same for me in this years Ontario Cup circuit as well as National races.

Happy Valentines Day

I wanted to take some time and wish all the readers a Happy Valentines day. I know it is basically a Hallmark holiday, however the idea of letting your loved ones know what they mean to you is great!

I got a new toy for Gaven today to help him along with his ever growing inquisitive nature, and developing dexterity. He is loving the new box with a different stimulus activity on each side. He spent time today going around to each and every side exploring the options, and curiously figuring out how each and every toy worked. I have to admit, he has his poppa's analytical streak when I watch how he wants to figure everything out. Brings a smile to my face.

I had a great day with the boys today, we played, made cards for people, and delivered them. Funny how elementary school activities like making Valentines can be fun at age 32! I had a blast helping them get everything prepared and explaining that we can pick special people to honor on this day.

So to each and everyone that I know, have recently met, or are just simply passing by this web page ... have a safe and happy Valentines day. Keep a little corner of your heart open, just in case love makes an appearance like this on special days :)

Downhill Bike is getting closer

So I spent a large portion of my day Sunday up to my elbows in grease, getting my custom build Downhill bike ready for the season. For all those gear heads out there, or people who love fixing things know this is great time spent. I find it almost therapeutic to spend time either creating or repairing with my hands. I cant explain it to those who don't partake in this hobby, but those others are all siting there nodding their head knowingly ;-)

I was so close, but had to stop with only the drive side of the bike left to complete. I hope to get to this over the coming weekend, and get out for a quick ride around the block. I know it is winter, but hey ... I new bike NEEDS to be ridden ..

The need for Vitamin D

So this being my first winter back here in the great white north or Canada, I have noticed a phenomenon my body going through this winter ... the thirst for Vitamin D.

During the winter months up here people tend to stay indoors during long stretches of inclement weather. There skin never gets very much time to soak up the much needed vitamin D that the suns rays provide to us. This coupled with a shorter day and colder weather start to play havoc on a persons mood.

Some of the symptoms this weather effect is having on me are the following. I find that I do not have as much energy when I get to the gym in the morning. I notice a discernible decline in how quickly my body wakes up from slumber, and general lack of drive to become active in early morning hours. I even notice a slight "depression" surrounding obtaining goals that revolve around athletics.

I noticed these things and made a correlation as yesterday was the first sunny and relatively warm day in some time. I got outside and noticed by the end of the day feeling recharged, feeling driven, and even noticed this affect carrying over into this morning. Could it be that the winter "blahs" had taken me captive without me knowing?

Do others out there that have now moved away from cold climates like Canada notice the effects when you return home? Have you had experiences like this of your own? The most pressing and important part of these questions is HOW do you cope with it, or make changes in your life to compensate and combat this phenomenon. I am not willing to let this affect my life any longer !

Monthly Readship Growth

So as promised at the start of every month I will send out some stats on where our readership is distributed. Last month I posted this list in terms of cities, but if I continued this the list might get really long as we know have over 65 cities worldwide! So in terms of ease posting, I have elected to post in country form. Here are our 17 countries we now have people reading from ...

Canada
United States
Switzerland
British Virgin Islands
Japan
United Kingdom
Bulgaria
Chile
Thailand
France
South Africa
Portugal
Australia
Spain
Brazil
Croatia
Indonesia

I must say ... quite a diverse group! Keep the word spreading about the blog, and hopefully someday we can fill that map with orange dots! It is like risk, the game of world domination ;o

Kisses for all !

Well yesterday was another momentous day for my little boy Gaven. He learned two new skills along his pathway to becoming a little "person".

The first of these skills was that he now knows how to kiss people when they hold him and ask for a "kiss". He is so adorable when he turns to face you, puckers his lips (much better than the open mouth kisses most children give) and leans in to kiss you. Absolutely warms you heart to know that he is wanting to share affection with you when he does this. Afterward he is so pleased he smiles glowingly from ear to ear.

The second thing he learned has an ironic twist considering the first item he learned, the kiss. He now also know how to say no, shaking his whole head comically from side to side. When he does this his whole body twists slightly adding to how cute he looks. Why this is ironic is that he now sometimes couples these skills, denying people kisses by shaking his head, and then laughs about it! Priceless!

The Custom Rebuild

So earlier on I let everyone know that I was going to race again this year, and I was looking forward to getting some new bikes and preparing for the year. Along with that comes the uncontrollable urge to take the bikes apart, modify each and every piece looking for ways to make them faster, lighter, stronger, and of course better looking. If you don't look great flying across the finish line, well then you just look bad !

So I striped down the Ironhorse frame, made some modifications with the help of the great guys at http://www.kreater.com/ and also got a great powedercoat / clear coat custom paint job for the frame. Powdercoat is an awesome look for those who have never seen it. They strip the frame down to bare mettle with sand blasting, spray it with a custom mixed powder of paint that adheres to the surface, then bake it around 500 Degrees for some time. this baking effectively opens the porous surface of the frame and melts the paint right on. This leaves an incredibly deep paint color, and after you put on the clear coat for extra shine... well it just looks awesome.

So now that I have the frame back, I am beginning to rebuild the bike and have some other small plans for getting the weight down and strength up. I am adding a full titanium bolt kit to the bike replacing all the old steel bolts to hopefully save around a pound. Carbon seat post should help save some weight as well. I might even have the guys are Kreater C&C me some parts out of aluminium to shave more weight off around the headset and other various parts.

I will keep everyone posted as the build continues, and up to date on my training schedule. For those of you who are interested I am currently running 18 K now on Sundays!

This is the first year I have added running to my training guidelines, so hopefully it helps. It does get boring running alone, so anyone interested just let me know and I will come join you for a run.

Come keep me company people !

4 8 15 16 23 42

That is right people, LOST has restarted its regular scheduled programing .. Finally !!

For those of you who don't like this program ... well ... you can just stop reading now because I happen to love it and it is currently the only program I watch (Aside from all the educational Baby Einstein DVD with Gaven of course).

Are those of you who watch this program, how did you enjoy this years premier? What are your thoughts surrounding the recent plot development of "time shifting", or all the interrelatedness of all the characters. This to me is the most interesting development as in the later part of season three we began seeing that some of our characters had interdependency's, and had met each other in some fashion (although not realizing it) before even coming to the Island. We even learned that a few of the key characters are siblings and had not been aware of this at all (Jack and Claire).

I for one am really enjoying this season so far, and appreciate the amount of work that the directors have put into script writing and plot development over all the years that are just now bearing fruit and showing real value to the overall storyline. I commend them for sometimes keeping things in the programing that may even confuse viewers in the present, but all the time knowing this will make sense and come together in the end.

Artisan Water

This morning while I was sipping on my Fiji artisan water I began to think about its origins. Was this water really from Fiji Island? Was this beverage truly from volcanic pools rich in minerals? My mind had a sudden shift or realization, call it a guilty conscience if you will ... I wondered where the profits for this drink were being used.

For those of you who may not know, the Fiji Government is currently being run by the Military that was ceased during the countries last Coup held in 2006. The public has been calling for a democratic vote for some time after this took place and order was restored. The country has had a long history of Military Coups ousting governments that the public has deemed unfit to rule but would not leave. They have staged Coups in 1977, 1987, 2000, and the last in 2006. So my thoughts began wondering if all the money made from this product I was consuming were going toward supporting a Military that is holding a country hostage for all intents and purposes.

What does your social conscience tell you to do in these situations; do you feel that your actions can amount to anything that would make a difference? Do you feel that the populous of the planet have any to help the people of Fiji, should the United Nations step in to aid in these types of issues? Or has the world learned a lesson of from the way that other nations have tried to oppose their will upon others. Is it truly ever the right of a people to intervene in situation that they may not fully understand?

I find my thoughts to be extremely divided on this type of issue, I struggle daily with thoughts surrounding how and when societies should engage in helping abroad. With so many ongoing wars, viewpoints, and differing world opinions, when is it right to act?

Retirement

As I am aware of a good number of my readers ages, and most are at least at 30 or above I thought I might ask some questions about retirement plans. Recently at dinner with friends I was shocked to find many of them had not begun this journey of saving for retirement. Is everyone turning a blind eye to this simply hoping it will work out?

FINANCIAL ... So I know my portfolio is a fairly aggressive one with a selections of Stocks, Bonds, RRSP's, Pension Funds and of course my various Real Estate dealings, but how does everyone else balance this out? Take for example your pension funds ... how do they spread (Balanced Funds, Canadian Equity funds, Fixed Income funds, Foreign Equity Funds). I am always interested in knowing how people are putting their hard earned wages to use .. especially around the world. I find that as I talk to people across the globe, there are vast and differing approaches on HOW to save for retirement.


WHAT TO DO ... this is actually one of the more important parts I found in planning my retirement and obviously more fun as well. The first section about finance is important, but can not be effectively done if you do not know the 5 W's of your retirement. What type of life do you want to leed, where do you want to live, what kind of activities do you want to do daily. All of these factors will lend to a dollar figure that you will need to plan and budget for in the finance section above.

So for those of you who have planned for retirement, what is your magic number? What age are you planning to turn in your work close for island cabana wear? I know mine is planned for 50 as I wanted to be young enough to start my ski/mountain bike B&B in British Columbia. What are your dreams, hopes and ambitions?

Inaguration

Yesterday January 20th 2009 was a special day… Not one but two people were promoted into office. What do I mean exactly? Well some of you close to me may have been aware that I was interviewing for a new management position here at CPPIB (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board http://www.cppib.ca/). Recently they posted the position of Manager Infrastructure Operations.

So while the US was swearing in there first African American President, I was also being sworn into my office and new role. I am extremely excited with all the new challenges and opportunities this will career path will provide, and am positive this is the natural progression for me.

While I had no rock bands or sweeping crowds to inaugurate my new arrival into this position, I did get a plethora of praise and warm sentiments from my team mates and co-workers. This is was all I could ask for, and made me feel at home in my newly appointed role as the Manager Infrastructure Operations.

A quick thanks to all in my life who supported me, mentored me, or even coached me through tough decision in my life. It is the sum of all these activities that have lead me to where I am today, so thank you.

It is a big week for our neighbors to the south and I would like to send congratulations to all my American friends living in the US. First off Happy Presidents day (Feb 18th) which is always a good day to celebrate two of Americans greatest leaders (George Washington and Abraham Lincoln). Why is the day posted as Feb 18th many always ask me, the answer is quite simple … It is the date picked between their respective birthdates (GW Feb 22, and AL Feb 12).

This week also marks the inauguration of Barack Obama happening tomorrow January the 20th, and is sure to be a huge occasion around many parts of the US. Not only does this end 8 continuous years of Republican rule, but it also marks the very first time in US history that an African American person was elected as the President of the United States of America.

3 Million People are expected out to see this incredible time in history transpire. Can you imagine the weight of that sitting squarely on your shoulders? Imagine an entire nation awaiting you as the solution to all that ales a failing American economy and way of life?
So this brings me to how all of this might affect us lonely Canadian living in the firiidgid north? What does this new president mean for us and our economy? We would be foolish not to review this … not to study and try to predict what might happen as the US try to strengthen their economy.

Take for example the means by which a tradition “protectionist” Democratic party like we now have coming into the US might try to stabilize the homeland. Would it not make sense for them to try to keep some of the industry such as oil (think Alberta oil sands projects) auto industry (such as all our car assembly or parts plants in Ontario), or even pulp and paper mill (such as the huge export to the US that Quebec provides)? What are the greater effects on us Canadian if the American President decides to pull these industries back to home soil and begin protecting their best interest?

I hope that the fact that Barack Obama has chosen Canada and Ottawa as his first out of country visit bodes well for us. I hope that they Americans understand the delicate balance of import/export that helps the entire economy as a whole circulate and grow. My hopes are that everything will remain as is, and we all stride together to help our economy out of this crisis through solid planning and execution of a debt inhalation program. That we as the general populous learn how to control spending effectively, and live within our means resisting the temptation to simply spend our way into poverty.

Acceleration

So my boy Gaven is now officially 9 months old as of the 11th, and I have noticed him changing in leaps and bounds. It appears to me as if he is learning at an exponential rate, and picks up something new every day. He has just started crawling, which was a monumental change on its own and already he has begun balancing on his knees and pulling himself upright on tables to peer around. It is for certain that he will figure out from here that he can simple walk place quicker. A funny note that he has learned this at 9 months and the coincidence is that at 9 months I was walking as well. Ever wonder if any of these types of things could be genetic?

He has recently learned he can call things by name starting with me! That is right I have a new name “Dada” and could not be prouder. At first everything was dada, but we quickly played some reference games like tickling dada and tickling Gaven ...poof he now understands “Dada” is me. Makes parents hearts warm when they can recognize this.

Gaven is now also doing an adorable thing when you say hello to him. He will begin waving and saying “Hiya”. He kind of clumsily flaps his one arm like a bird ... and the Hiya is distorted... but you can tell by the instant smile on his face that he is ecstatic to communicate with you.

Gaven also popped his first tooth and accordingly always has his fingers in his mouth now feeling it, almost like he is feeling to make sure it is still there. I can watch him put all his food onto that side as if he understands that the tooth will help. He is now eating real “people” foods and loves some of the same things that I do like Salmon!

One of the things that absolutely astonishes me is the understanding of photographs, or rather when a photograph is being taken. If you turn the camera on him and begin to focus, as soon as he sees that telltale orange light the camera uses to autofocus with.... he begins smiling and posing! I find it hard to believe that he understands that this is normal practice, and can only attribute this to him watching what others do when the camera is turned on them.

All of these things truly amaze me, and somehow refuel my beliefs in humanity. To all those parents out there reading this... what are some of the things you can recall your child doing that simply astounded you?

I want to take a quick moment and apologize to all the readers for the lack of posting. I have had some fairly substantial items in my personal life taking precedence and eating up some extra time lately. They have all wrapped up, and nothing but good news will come from it :-)

I will find some time in the morning and write something worth reading ;-)
Till then... sleep tight all

Diversity of Readership

Recently I installed a analytics tool to help me better understand the traffic flows to and from this site. Special thanks goes out to Shannon Smith of http://shannonesmith.blogspot.com/ for helping me with this, much appreciated.

I wanted to quickly share the diversity of the readers locations with you, letting you know who your fellow blog readers are. It is quite a wide ranging group, spanning several Continents, Country's as well as many Cities and Towns.

As I spent many years traveling the globe in my past jobs, I have made great friends all over the world. I will be sending out invitations to my blog in hopes of having them join in our discussions, and providing a global perspective. Here are the places we have to date visiting the site ( at least since I installed the tool) I invite you to pass the blog link along to others you might feel would enjoy reading. My hopes are that with a larger group of readers, we will stimulate an environment for great conversation, discussion and even debate. This will help us all understand global perspectives with greater ease.

http://kristiankataila.blogspot.com/

Country's
Canada
United States
Thailand
British Virgin Islands
United Kingdom
Australia

Cities

Oakville
New York
Georgetown
Burlington
Etobicoke
Ballwin
Denton
Phuket
Washington
Tampa
Brooklyn
Owensboro
Anaheim
Chorley
Woburn
Richmond
Brampton
St Paul
Honolulu
Mississauga
London
Kenner
Mountain View
Hamilton
Sydney
Addison
Burnaby

Monthly on the first day of each month I will be posting the cities list to watch how we grow :)

Science and the Economy

Alright, be forewarned I am going to touch on a sore subject that I have seen cause many arguments over the holidays. And no I did not bring the subject up, but did see this happen many times so I figured I would get your opinions on the matter.

So here we are in the midst of a complete global economic meltdown. The price of commodities is dropping uncontrollably, usual benchmarks like oil, precious metals, even currencies are all over the map, switching from record highs to rock bottom lows. This has brought many hedge funds, pension funds, amongst other index's to drop drastically in value as people loose faith in there ability. The end result..... people hard earned money has simply "disappeared" overnight.


Half a world away is one of the worlds largest joint scientific project LHC — short for Large Hadron Collider. How large is large ? This continuous loop is 16 miles underground of complex scientific equipment designed to accelerate sub-atomic particles to the absolute brink of know speeds, and then have them collide.This incredible project has taken over 20 years and 8 Billion dollars to complete. So when it fired up in September of this year and failed almost instantly, you can guess people were disappointed.

http://lhc.web.cern.ch/lhc/

So here is the question I heard everyone get so angered about. In times like these when the world is suffering through a recession or even worse a depression, should we continue to spend on scientific projects?

Now ... I am going to avoid all temptation to spill my guts onto this page (believe me that is extremely hard to do) as I really want to know your thoughts. I want to understand what you think about the situation, and more importantly why. I love to understand others points of views, so I will bite my tongue in hopes of hearing some of your thoughts out there.

Please click the comment section and simply jot down your thoughts for me and others to peruse. I know we have lots of readers here, with over 330 page hits, and 40 unique visitors !

First Dip

Today was a another first for my little guy Gaven, his very first swim. We went to the local pool and prepared for what was to be baby's first dip into water (except bath time of course)

You never know what you are going to get from the little guys when you get them into the water, some cry, some scream and kick frantically, while others just seem to not care at all. Gaven certainly fell into that later category. We got him into the water, he just looked around studying it and all his surroundings, not seeming to mind at all.

As Gaven gets older I notice that he is a curious little fellow. Old work friends from Thermadyne mentioned it in his first photos I had sent back to them that he is always more interested in the camera, or rather trying to figure out how it works then anything else. He seems to be a "studier" or inquisitive baby ... always trying to figure out how everything works. I suppose this means that he will take everything apart like I did as a child frustrating my parents :-) (Man the universe has a sick sense of ironic humor )

International Year of astonomy

Okay .. I am a geek ... yes I said it a GEEK.

I know, I know .. most of you already know this, but for some of you that might not have known me for years it might not have quite sunk in yet. I admit it and am almost proud of the fact that I love geeky things. For years I would spend countless hours outdoors with my scope taking photographs of the night sky (all before i got married and had kids of course)

So this is officially the international year of astronomy and I wanted to help spread the word to all of those out there that might not be aware. I am a believer of understanding our place in this vast universe, and how everything surrounding us works in ever so intricate ways. I feel that the sheer beauty of astronomical event, celestrial bodies, and vast nebulae are unrivaled amongst anything in nature.

Yes, I have even been brought to tears, full blow tears peering through my telescope at the sheer awe and beauty of things like the rings of Saturn. For those of you who have never actually witnessed these things first hand, this is your year. Get out to a local astronomy club, I guarantee people will be willing to allow you to use the scope and see these things first hand yourself. This is something I feel everyone should experience once in their lifetime.

Please take some time and read through some of these sites, find events near you, get outside and stare up at the wonders that lay above us each night. Take your friends, your family, your loved ones and enjoy the night sky.

http://www.astronomy2009.org/

http://toronto.rasc.ca/content/TorontoAstroFestival09.shtml

Okay ... here we go ... rant time.

I have a problem, a small problem with how some auto manufacturers are presenting, wait ... falsely presenting the next generation of automobiles. Not only do I have a problem with how the manufactures are presenting this, but I have an even larger problem with how eagerly and blindly the general populous is accepting these new truths. What am I talking about... Interested yet ?? Today’s rant is about the electric car.

Enter GM (General Motors) and the newly appointed “Volt”. This vehicle is slated for release in 2010, and has been highly touted as the “solution” to the petroleum propelled vehicles that have dominated the markets for the past 100 years or more. This car will run off 100 % electric power, no gasoline or diesel, just electricity. Sounds great right? The solution to all our oil problems plaguing the world right?

The other day I was on the train, listening to people talk about the new car and the advertisement they had recently seen. These two individuals seem so assured, so positive, so enamoured with the concept of this car that it was to end the world dependency on oil. That we were finally going to have a “zero carbon footprint” automobile available for purchase and we could all be part of the solution. I bit my tongue for a while during the conversation, but then finally gave in and had to discuss with them.

First I had to ask, where did you hear the term “zero carbon footprint”? It was so outlandish t me that I had to explain what this term meant, and how falsely misleading this was. First off I asked where this electricity comes from. And then proceeded to explain how our power consumption nationally breaks down. Over 1/3 of the power in our country is from fossil fuels... the very thing that the automobile was supposed to avoid right?

Nuclear FleetGenerating Capacity: 6,606 MWStations: 32007 Output: 44.2 TWh
Currently Generating:
6216 MW

Hydroelectric FleetGenerating Capacity: 6,972 MWStations: 642007 Output: 31.9 TWh
Currently Generating:
4754 MW

Fossil-Fuelled FleetGenerating Capacity: 8,577 MWStations: 52007 Output: 29.0 TWh
Currently Generating:
3080 MW

Next consider all the other non renewable sources that are in the automobile, rubber, plastics, chemicals, paints. Or how about all the infrastructure that is used to either store or transport the electricity to your home? Where am I going with all of this rant? It is simple; I truly wish that the auto manufactures would stay clear of terms like “zero carbon footprint” when this is so false. There is a HUGE carbon footprint for the vehicle, and all the power used by the driver.

Please do not take this rant to mean that I am against electric cars like the volt, rather the opposite; I fell they are a great step forward. I do wish however that the marketing guru’s would figure out another way to sell the products rather than using “buzz words” to fool the consumer sheep into making a noble choice.

~ Hocky night in canada~

Sorry about the lack of posting over the last few days ... but something more meaningful will have to wait until tomorrow.

I am heading to the Toronto Mapleleafs game this eve, and wont have time to post
:-)

Come on back tomorrow, I will have something worth while ... promise

Humans and Music

How is it no matter what human culture you study in any period of time have music as a central part of their being? Evolution of tribal rituals, chants, drums sessions ... all the way to modern day rock or techno for that matter. Music is a singularity we all share in some form as humans.

Take for example my sons smile when he learned how to clap his hands and find simple rhythms in his nursery rhymes. I believe this searching of pleasing patterns is something that is a gift from within. Something we are all born with, and some learn to externalize it better than others becoming musicians.

I wish more people would treat others in their lives as we do amateur musicians. We never scorn them for missing a note, or perhaps hitting one incorrectly. We rather encourage them to try again, seek out improvement from the last passing. Why is it we cannot do the same in our day to day lives? If someone makes a mistake, encourage them to try again and improve upon the last attempt? So, as we’d forgive the amateur musician and encourage their growth, we should forgive our fellow humans’ actions.

We all hit wrong notes ... we are only human

The polar bear experience

First off let me welcome everyone to the year 2009. I hope it is as great as you want, and can make it

Since returning to Canada from my time in Texas, I have been known to complain or even periodically bitch about the extreme cold here in Canada. This comes as a shock to people who remember me as a ski instructor who would spend days outdoors in the -30 weather teaching.
Well since my time in the south, man do I ever miss the south sometimes, my blood had thinned and I am unable to adjust back to the colder climate. So what is one to do? How does one overcome this? I decided to take an extremist approach to the matter and take a plunge. What type of plunge you might ask … the polar bear plunge.





While most of you were sleeping off new year’s hangovers, or relaxing under your down filled covers, I got up early, and silently headed out for a dip in lake Ontario with hundreds of other “crazy” individuals. I did not tell anyone I was doing it, not family, not friends. This was intentional as I did not want to hear any negativity that might convince me otherwise from doing this.

The polar bears club get up each new year’s morning, head down to the icy waters of lake Ontario, and that it right, take off their clothing run into the water, and dance around frantically trying to pretend that it is not cold. They get pledges to raise money for a charity of choice; this year was a clean water fund for Rwanda.

http://www.polarbeardip.ca/

The experience … well let’s just say I will never do it again. I neither found it exhilarating nor refreshing as people had described. Simply cold, bitterly bone chilling cold. Too look on the bright side however; I did achieve two greater goals by doing this. One, helped out a good cause and got a new year’s resolution out of the way early this year. Two, now the mornings do not seem quite as cold and I am better prepared to fight the cold Canadian winter months.

Edit -- blog just hit 200 visits :) thanks for reading