RtN, almost all of it

Friday the pool was a gong show. Only four 25 m lanes open, and all of them were full. I was watching Katie cope with a guy that hates to let her pass. I think he takes it personal, but Katie can pass many of the swimmers at Talisman. Personally, I think he's being dumb. A better strategy is to let her pass, then try to hang in her draft as long as you can. Great training.

Michelle and I had the dive tank to ourselves and we did stroke improvement. I think I've figured out a better head position, and was tuning some catch and pull stuff. Michelle has made such great improvements that it's time to take more video so she can see for herself. Even when the pool emptied out we stayed, and had lots of fun. The dive tank is nice for this, because it's a bit warmer, and better lit. It's this big blue space that you float in.

Here's the chalkboard this morning.

Katie and I have been trying to arrange a ride Road to Nepal and coffee date for a while, and today was it. For those new to the blog, Katie coached me to Ironman and is a physical dynamo. I can almost keep up to her in the pool, for a little while, but on the bike the only way I can keep up is if it's downhill. Let's not even talk about the run.

It started off cool, with my low back feeling a bit dubious about the whole darned thing. My right quad and knee were a bit unhappy on the hills, and I didn't feel strong at all. Katie was way ahead, and I turned around when we met up again, maybe 5 K before the end of the road. There was no actual pain, but enough of an ache I didn't want to go up any more hills than I had to. Have I mentioned that Road to Nepal is all hills, all the time?

By then it was getting nice out, and there were dozens of cyclists going the other way as I headed back. Coming back is easier, and my knee felt happier. Still, by my standards on this road, it was very slow.  42 K, 2:18. A more normal ride for me is the full 52 K in about that time, and my record is a fraction under 2 hours. Contrast that to my ride last week, almost 45 K in 2:08, or a 50 K ride in 2:28. Average speed was 18.2 Kph, and the max was 75Kph though I'm not sure I believe that. I didn't see anything more than about 65 Kph and the bike computer says 70 Kph. They agree on the average though, and I suppose I should say the minimum speed going up a couple of the hills was (hangs head) 6.1 Kph.

I'm glad we went. I probably wouldn't have gone if we hadn't had a date to do it, but I'm feeling pretty good after. I've got a bike fit scheduled for next week, and I'm hoping that it will change my position and I'll be happier and more comfortable on the bike.

Once Katie got back we hung out in the back, drank coffee, nibbled goodies, and chatted. So wonderful! She was telling me how she couldn't keep up to these two girls she was swimming with after her race in St. George last week. Then she finds out that it was Meredith Kessler and Rachel Joyce. No wonder!

Linda has a ton of stuff on the go with the garden. Lilies have arrived. The trees are in bloom. Lots of stuff to do. Must go...

Quite the week!

There's already been lots of comment on the Alberta election. If you're interested in that, you've probably read your fill done by writers more talented than me, and some of it has been very witty indeed. If you're not interested you're probably saying to yourself, "not more from you too!"

Maybe just a little bit. As far as Canadian history goes this is nearly a once in a lifetime event. Anybody that voted in Peter Lougheed in 1971 is a senior citizen now. The change of government before that was in 1935. Not many now would personally remember that. And to go NDP? That makes it even more remarkable, and explains the twitter traffic that seemed to mostly consist of variations on "holy shit", "flying pigs", and "hell freezing over". I stayed up to watch it all, and loved it!

I'm very pleased with the results. The various people setting their hair on fire will get over it. Or they won't and that's their problem. We still have a PC MLA, but I've never read about him in the paper for either good or bad, and that's an acceptable outcome for me. But if the Lib's hadn't run a paper candidate, and all those votes had gone to the NDP, there'd be one less PC in the Legislature. Last time he won an outright majority of votes, and plurality of nearly 2000 votes. Even that was a squeaker compared to previous years. The NDP got 600 votes last time. This time the PC got a third of the votes, only 429 more votes than a no-name NDP candidate, who got 5466 votes. I'll bet he doesn't run again.

My last comment is that Prentice showed his true colours during his concession/resignation speech. To resign his seat before they finish counting the ballots demonstrates a true lack of class. He has spat in the face of democracy and voting, and especially the people that voted for him. Our MLA made a big deal out of Prentice being the one to clean things up, and the voters that relied on that must be furious. Whoever will they find to run as a PC candidate in the coming by-election?

In other news. I'm still a bit beat up from the big work weekend. Nice swim on Tuesday, a bit on the slow and short side, but I'll take it. Yoga was a washout. I wasn't really there for it, and my core was on vacation. Even corpse pose wasn't relaxing; my hips weren't happy with being stretched out. I was thinking of running tonight, but the BBQ captured me.

Linda got a zillion lily bulbs and will be busy planting them, and the rest of the pansies she got. I'm trying to stay out of her way as she deals with it. Things are just exploding out of the ground. Here's something that looks like it's aspiring to be Jack's beanstalk.

The sidewalk of destroyed safety boots

Last you heard I had a crappy swim last Wednesday. Friday was redemption! Swam CSS 17 x 100 on 2 minutes, at 1:43 or 1:44 for all but the first one, which was 1:40 even. I settled into the groove nice and relaxed. I could have gone on, but moved onto other important things.

Friday my buddy Susi was in town! Such a lovely chat to catch up, then Saturday midafternoon dropped her off at a different set of friends. She has many friends.

Sunday was the big day. About 25 years ago we put down some of those big concrete patio slabs to form a walkway between our driveway and back yard. It wasn't used much because there was rarely a reason to go into the back yard. Over the decades it gradually settled.

Then last year when we put the back yard patio in, I fixed the bit of sidewalk nearest the patio. That was close to the lowest point of the walk, and it became really obvious. Several people tripped because they weren't expecting such a slope.

The task. Move all the bricks out of the way. Rake up as much of the crushed brick between the walk and the house as possible. Remove the slabs. Lay down landscape fabric. Wheel in as much gravel as needed, level, and tamp it down. Replace the sidewalk slabs. Wash and replace crushed brick on neighbor's side to level that out. Most importantly, don't leave any skin or blood on the job. Success!

Here is the working area. It's hard to tell how much that slopes towards our house, but it's lots. Lets not even talk about the volunteer plants.

This is a staged shot to prove I was wearing safety boots. Wearing them paid off, as one time my foot was about an inch closer to where the slab was going than I thought it was.

Slabs and crushed brick removed.

Landscape fabric. The gray stuff is almost like a really tough felt. It took heavy scissors to cut it; a sharp knife wouldn't. The black stuff is leftovers.

The gravel starts. We bought a cubic yard, and worried it would be way too much. I could have used another couple of wheelbarrows full, maybe a bit more.

Mostly done, 8 hours later. No owies, other than my hands being roughed up.

There is still a slight dip just near that window well, but it's less than an inch.

The remaining task is to neatly lay out the bricks on the gravel in a nice pattern. Later. Maybe much later. I was a hurting unit and went to bed early. I didn't even think about swimming and tottered into work, gradually feeling better as I moved. This evening I was out doing a bit of lawn raking, and had my back talking firmly to me. Stretched. My calves are still too tender to be rolled, but everything liked the stretch.

And the boots. I last wore them on the job in the late 90's. They've been sitting in the basement ever since. While working I felt something weird on my feet and thought it was clumps of dirt. Then I realized it was rubber flaking off. I switched back to shoes, and was doubly careful. 

In another example of degrading materials, here's what a brand new bag looks like. The colours are bright and vibrant. This is really good advertising, if you think about it.

We didn't quite finish off this bag last fall, and it's been sitting outside in the sun for 7 months or so. Interesting effect that UV has had.

You'll see this chalkboard more often. I have had ideas. This is Linda's commentary on the election. You ARE voting, if you're an Albertan, right? RIGHT?? Don't make me blog about you.

The divine right of cookie jar ownership

Did you see or hear of the concerned Edmonton "businessmen" that talked about their divine right to the Alberta cookie jar? They didn't quite phrase it like that, but that's what the message is. To threaten to withdraw charitable donations to a children's hospital if their taxes go up is disgusting. They should be spat upon in the street.

Bluntly translated the entire PC message this election is "Fuck you Jack, I've got mine and I'm going to keep it." Oh, and don't forget, "to find fault, look in a mirror." Along with the classic bit of patriarchal condescension in "Math is hard."

Last election the PC's brought out the ooga-booga big scare guns, only it was to head off a surging Wildrose party. It worked. I know people that are still kicking themselves. They can't wait till that ballot is in hand to redeem themselves.

The PC's are doing it again, only this time the target is the NDP. I don't even know where to begin. Somehow it's bad that "Notley is taking direction from Mulcair," yet it's ok for Rona Ambrose (of the federal PC party) to scold Albertans about not voting PC, and Prentice and Harper are buddies.

They are saying anything to scare people from voting NDP in this election. Anything at all. You've probably heard it. Ignore it. Do the right thing. Vote the bums out of office. A majority NDP with a strong Opposition Wildrose will be good for everybody, PC's included. Maybe not the people caught with their hand in the cookie jar, but that's ok. Even if different hands go back in, that's a good thing. The money goes different places. Wildrose with NDP Opposition might not be quite as good, but still an acceptable outcome. Even a (gasp!) minority would make them sing for their supper, and make them think about what they are up to.

The dippers are inexperienced at government, as were the PC's when they took office in 1971. Some of their policies are probably not as well thought out as they could be, just like many PC policies. Some of their people that will gain office this time are not as experienced as we might like. Whatever. Shame on the PC's for pointing the finger there. None of the other parties have a member convicted of soliciting a prostitute (really an undercover cop) while on a taxpayer funded trip.

What's important to remember is this. These things, in no particular order:

• The PC's got us into this mess. If they haven't demonstrated financial competence to date, what makes you think it will happen now?
• There is a civil service that exists to help the government enact it's policies. There is likely to be some inertia there to resist the so called extremist positions. On the other hand, policies that are good for people, instead of oil & gas corporations might get enacted startlingly quickly.
• Remember the last Premier? The one that booked fake passengers on government airplanes so she wouldn't have to share? The one that created a swanky secret apartment for herself? The one that spent $45K of tax money to fly to South Africa because, golly, why should she have to fly commercial? It's the SAME GOVERNMENT! They let her get away with, and they'll let Prentice get away with it too. 
• The people that say "Let's put the past behind us and look forward" are thieves that have been caught, and are still trying to get away with it.
• Once the PC's are voted out of power, their campaign slush fund that would be illegal for every other party, (they grandfathered themselves) can be ended. This would bring in truly fair campaign finance laws, as opposed to the ones that Prentice says are fair.
• Doesn't the prospect of Gordon Dirks claiming credit for the advancement of LBGTQ legislation make you sick? After promoting the homophobic Bill 10, to now take credit for the bill allowing gay straight alliances is disgusting. But typical. Then again, he got his knuckles rapped by the ethics commissioner, and shrugged his shoulders.
• They saw nothing wrong with paying people for committee work, when the committee never met, and when caught on it, saw no reason to pay it back. 

There is much more. Keep it firmly in mind that the policies of a future NDP or Wildrose government are conjecture. Nobody really knows what they will actually be able to do, and they will have to face the electorate with their own record in the next election. One might fear the NDP "wrecking the provincial economy", or you could look at the PC record of doing exactly that. Vote for a change that could be better, or vote for more of the same incompetence? Hmmm, let me think about it.

The PC party has to wear their record. They own the endless boom/bust cycles, the thousands of people laid off in the last few months, all the uncertainty in planning in the oil patch, the botched royalty review, and the endless scandals. If they are somehow voted back in, we will get more of the same corrupt, arrogant, incompetent government, letting the oil & gas companies steal our resources for pennies on the dollar. 

I would far, far rather have a group of well meaning people as elected officials, even if they lack governing experience, as compared to a group of experienced thieves. That's what we've got now.

Vote. Think with the facts.

My arms have adopted Pastafarianism

Monday = cold water. Really cold water in Talisman. I've had warmer lake swims while racing. Nobody knows why, including the people that work there. My (female) lane mate speculated that it was so the (male) water polo players would have their muscles tighten up even more, for the delight of those interested. Its as good a theory as any.

I did 2 K in the pool, trying to hustle, and not finding the gear. First K was 18:50, which I think of as slow. The next K was 19:30 or so, but by that point I was beyond caring. I wanted out of the pool. A cool down was out of the question, since I'd never warmed up. The hot tub felt like it was burning my skin.

Tuesday was a slow run, 4.25 K in 30 minutes, struggling to keep moving. It was a beautiful evening out, the first really warm day of the year, and my legs were heavy. The "run" was a constant slog to not stop.

Wednesday is when the arm conversion happened. My arms channeled the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and emulated His Noodly appendage. They were good for nothing during the swim. The water was back to the normal temperature, at least, and that's the only thing good about the swim.

I was trying to do CSS times, and failed miserably. I have, in the recent past, done 1:50 per 100 m, on a 2 min start consistently for 3 K. It's fair to say that wasn't a fluke, since I've done it several times, and even faster.

Today I gave up before even 1 K. Each 100 was slower than the one before it, no matter how hard I pushed. As I started the 9th one I was feeling really bad about it, and wondering what the heck I was doing. Since the 8th one had been 1:51 at what felt like nearly all out effort, I had to be doing something wrong, and didn't see any point in rewarding that. I rolled over on my back for a couple strokes, then back to the end of the pool. Out. The big hot tub was being cleaned so I settled into the small one for a bit, bailing out when one of the swim clubs started to invade.

All in all, a pair of discouraging swims, and a discouraging run. My legs are still heavy from the bike ride last week. My buddy Katie connected me with someone doing good bike fits, so I think I'll stay off the bike till that happens. I'm suspecting my fit has changed, probably due to reduced flexibility in my low back.

After my massage today, my therapist informed me my left leg was a wreak. Again. Which I had known. I've got an ice pack going on the hams. I'm seriously wondering what our beloved yoga teacher is going to inflict I mean, share with us tonight. I hope I survive.

Mr Money Mustache had rolled up to the top of my blogroll, and I thought his discussion of what trucks say about you was very appropriate, given all the pick up trucks in town these days. It seems like there are a lot more of them, being driven by people that seem a lot angrier than usual. But if I start telling you about that, my blood pressure will be up, and that will make yoga even more difficult.

I'm not feeling discouraged or anything. These times happen during training. A good night's sleep, getting through some training at work, and finding my swim mojo again will do wonders.

The retirement whisperer

Once again the retirement whisperer showed up.

Friday Michelle and I were off to the pool. You never know what you're going to get at Talisman on Fridays. This one turned out to be a semi-gong show, redeemed later for Michelle. We started in the training pool, then even though the whiteboard said it was open, they kicked us out part way. We had to find a lane in the competition pool.

Michelle chugged away working on her stroke. I played chase with the other girl in my lane. I was trying to stay just far enough back that I could get a bit of draft, yet not so close that she'd think I was pushing. After maybe 500 m she paused, let me go by, and darned if she didn't tuck into my draft! That was kind of fun, actually, and made me pay attention to my pace.

Eventually I moved back into Michelle's lane when the water runner left. 100 m 91 seconds, really feeling a strong rhythm with stroke and breathing. Then a bit of drill, and 50 m 41 seconds, still in the groove. I've love to be able to swim longer at that pace, but I'm pretty sure that even going to 75 m I'd see my pace drop off dramatically.

We had a lovely chat after, Michelle's eyes wandering to the pool occasionally, where the male water polo players did their thing. Nuff said about that...

Then in the afternoon I met up with my financial advisor. Some of that was routine shuffling of money to top up RSP and TFSA and other stuff. I'm very pleased with my investment performance. It's mostly clear I can't stop working right now, never work again, AND live to whatever age. Unless I was really lucky I'd likely run out of money. Maybe. It's getting to the point the uncertainties of market return, and figuring just how long I'm going to live, and just how much money I'll want to spend, all combine to say 'maybe.' But when you consider I'm planning to work at least part time for a while yet, that calculation gets interesting. Depending on the assumptions you make, I could semi-retire right now.

Saturday was a cold day. We had expected snow and rain, but it was just overcast. I hung out at home, relaxing. It was lovely, in between visits by the furnace guy. Friday we noticed it would go through the startup cycle, but the main burners wouldn't fire. I figured it was a sensor, but it turned out to be the main gas valve. Twice. He had to come back the next day and replace it again.

Sunday we had brunch with the retirement whisperer. This time it was Linda's cousin's wife, who recently retired from the City. She is loving it! There were no regrets at all about signing the paperwork. Her husband is still winding down his affairs, and is working part time. I was picking their brains about how this is working out for them. She's taken to it like a duck to water, and given how I got through 2009, she thinks I'll do the same.

Ran 4.3K, 30 minutes, feeling pretty good about it. Average pace was 6:54 per K, which is good for me. The last half K was a bit of a struggle as my legs were getting heavy. Still, for legs that were starting a bit tired from last weekend, I'm pretty pleased.

Then I was put to work at one of my specialties. Nuclear gardening. Today was cutting back the ambitious mint plant, then getting rid of some tree-ish herb that is taking over. Tough stuff. Linda thinks it's Hyssop. I managed to not dig up the little hens and chicks that are being slowly over run. The daffodils are still there, and two huge day lilies. We are budgeting a day each for those to divide and replant. I am seriously thinking about renting a chainsaw for that. There is a lot more work left to actually dig up the beds, amend the soil, and plant the split up day lilies and other stuff. (I wonder if Runkeeper has a gardening activity?)

There is still much to do out front. We could probably both take a week of vacation and do nothing but work on it. Considering how much we've ignored it over the years, this isn't a surprise. The Alberta rose is doing really well, winning the early growth contest. We figure it's getting ready to take over that whole bed. The plum is almost blooming, as are some of the other roses. Photos then.

Do I really need to mention BBQ bison burgers with wine? This weekend has passed in a blur.

Time for a change, Alberta

This is the first of a periodic series of posts that are intended to be a more polished topical essay, rather than the multi-topic blog posts I bang out every day and a half or so, on average. Some of you have liked my rants (thank you very much) and there are well over 100 to read. Some of them are emotional frothings that make me feel better. Some are a perplexed reaction to something.

But I don't think any are an actual essay making an argument for a particular point of view, with nothing else to detract from it. I don't think you'll have much difficulty in understanding the point of these essays. This point of view will be mine. I'm not a shill for anyone else. Commentary is welcome, even if you disagree, but tell me why you disagree. I love getting comments, but as always, I'm going to insist they are polite.

Change is likely to be a catalyst for a number of these essays. Overdue change, reactions to change, inadvisable change or resignation to inevitable change could all be applied to many situations. Hold onto your hat though, you never know what you'll get.

“Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” Mark Twain.

Not just politicians, but the government that is made of those same politicians needs to be changed too. What then are we to make of a 44 year old provincial government? This one certainly fails the sniff test. Time to be changed.

The biggest thing for me is simple financial competence. Much of the revenue for the Alberta government comes from oil and gas royalties. The theory is that Albertans own the resource, and the various oil and gas companies pay us royalties to be allowed to extract and sell it. The unfortunate thing is that we don't set the market price of oil and gas. Any teenager knows that price fluctuates. If they've been paying attention, they know it could and does fluctuate a lot.

The problem is the PC government doesn't seem to get this in any practical way. I know as a contractor my income can fluctuate from my normal rate to nothing on very little notice. I have emergency money set aside for that. So does every other contractor I know.

What does Alberta do? They spend it all, and sometimes more. They, along with almost everyone else is notoriously poor at predicting the price of oil. So duh, budget for it cheap, and bank the excess. We used to have a Heritage Fund. The intent was to set aside part of the royalty income for days when that income might not be there, and there were still schools, roads, and hospitals to be built. Like, (surprise!) now.

In the mean time that money can be invested to earn further income. This might mean buying bonds from other provinces as a bedrock position. It won't earn much, but they aren't going to go bankrupt. Part of the money could go to diversifying our economy. The problem there is that critics accuse the government of picking winners and losers, as if getting a loan from the government guarantees success. They also think that if that business goes under, then the government has lost money, which is true in a technical sense, and someone should be fired. As any commercial loan manager will tell you, if a few loans don't go bad, you aren't making as much money as you could because you're too conservative. (In an economic, not political sense.)

Over the years, incompetent politicians stopped adding to the fund, then started raiding it, even when times were good. This is criminally stupid, prima facie evidence of incompetence. If you believe that Alberta's oil and gas wealth belongs to all Albertan's, including ones not born yet, you have to weep and rage at the folly of the government.

There used to be a bumper sticker. "Please God, let there be another oil boom. I promise not to piss it all away this time." It's an oldie but a goodie, because it keeps on happening.

Part of the problem is indeed us, the taxpayers. There was an element of truth to Prentice's claim that we should look in a mirror. As taxpayers in a wealthy province, we want it all, as in all the goodies and none of the prices. Politicians, poor helpless creatures that they are, merely try to deliver so they can keep their snouts in the trough.

In the debate the other day the leader of the Wildrose party kept saying "we won't raise taxes". More evidence of stupidity. Sometimes raising taxes is the right thing to do. Nobody likes it, me included, but golly, I sure like having the various benefits of living in a civilized society. There is more to governing than lowering taxes. He kept saying it over and over. We get it, but I suspect his base needs to hear it again and again. Who needs to be told something more than a few times?

I know there will be another oil boom, and another crash. I know this like I know there will be eclipses of the moon and sun. I personally don't know when, but I could find out about the eclipses. Smart people have figured that out. Nobody knows when the next boom and crash will be. The difference is that smart people know they will happen, and plan for it.

Which leads me to my main point. The PC party has repeatedly demonstrated incompetence at planning for the inevitable. Time to give another party a chance. My advice? If you don't vote PC anyway, carry on. You're doing just fine. Unless, maybe, if you vote Liberal you might want to consider switching your vote to the NDP or Alberta Party. They're on their way up. The Liberals are down and out, and getting downer and outer all the time.

If you normally vote PC I implore you, consider an alternative. You have party choices to the left and right of the PC's. If you like no new taxes as a rule, and don't mind the lake of fire, then vote Wildrose. If you're a bit of a red tory, then please look around. The NDP are doing really well lately. Ms Notley cleaned up in the recent debate, and has been getting great press. I like the idea of the Alberta Party, and you might prefer to vote for them rather than "the socialist hordes", as it was expressed to me. However they aren't running in my riding so that isn't a choice for me. I'm not sure if the Greens are running provincially, and if their people were half as good as the federal MP Elizabeth May, I'd vote for them hands down.

At this point I don't have an opinion on how the election will turn out. Last time Wildrose was doing really well, till the lake of fire and it's implications sank in. Redford very cleverly played the fear card, and lots of people swung back to the PC's. Prentice is trying to do that this time round, only using fear of the socialists, but I don't know if it will work. My own MLA tried playing that card today after he knocked on my door. "They will wreak the economy and put people out of jobs." Bah, I say. BAH! Lots of my buddies are out of a job just now, and many companies are flirting with bankruptcy. Tell me again who is in government?

Time for a change. I think having a weak majority NDP, with a strong opposition Wildrose would be a great thing. Wildrose has demonstrated competence at holding the government's feet to the fire. Knowing they have a guy that only thinks about not raising taxes in opposition means NDP will prepare well, and explain why their raising taxes, and what it's for. Having a few Greens, Aberta Party, and even Liberals filling out the remaining seats would be just fine.

A minority government has never happened in the entire history of Alberta. Not even close. The words interesting times don't even begin to cover that possibility.

I'm not so happy about a weak majority Wildrose. Remember, they are the older, more intolerant, more religious, and much more conservative wing of the PC party that took their marbles and went away. The lake of fire was just fine with them before, and is likely still just fine now, given some of what I've read from their members. I don't see them as competent to deal with the complexities of government, even though some of them have been in government.

Last thing. If you are an Albertan eligible to vote, get your butt down to the polling station and do it. There's lots of advance polling options. Your employer is required by law to give you time to vote if your work shift overlaps the hours the polling stations are open. You can't say this isn't an interesting election; it's the most interesting, most contested election since the Conservatives took over from Social Credit. Normally the PC's rack up such huge majorities I can understand people thinking their vote doesn't count. That isn't true now. Every vote counts this time. Every one. Get out there and vote!