My son played football yesterday in a battle of the undefeated teams. His Rams have gone 2+ seasons undefeated, and their opponents are always one of their strongest competitors. The Mustangs started strong, getting back to back to back first downs, culminating in a TD. They added another a while later, which the Rams answered. They swapped another pair of TDs and each team threatened a couple more times.

Late in the 3rd quarter, the Rams were receiving a kick-off. Cochrane caught it deep in their end, and started running, a Mustang player in hot pursuit. Jones laid a hit on the defender - hard - and the kid dropped and stayed down. It was a clean hit - they appeared to knock helmets.

There was a long delay of the game while the ambulance was called, and the player was taken to hospital. Rumour had it that he had a concussion 2 weeks ago, but that's unconfirmed.

We got an e-mail from the other coach:

Ron, thank you for asking about our player. He was home resting last night with a sore neck but no serious injury. He will be out for 2-3 weeks but will be back playing.

He lay motionless on the field for a good 5 minutes at least... and he has a sore neck?

This is the 3rd game in a row where players have been taken to the hospital. Last week it was 2 of our guys (one with concussion #5 - he's 14) and the week before it was 2 Nanaimo players, one with a leg/ankle injury the other with a concussion (I believe).

Our kids wear concussion helmets - all of them - but I can tell you.... if my son had a couple of concussions by now, we'd be seriously rethinking what sports he'd be playing.

Oh yeah... the game ended in a 35-28 win for the Mustangs. But it was probably the game of the year.

My kids are in Gymnaestrada, a combination for gymnastics and dance which is usually non-competitive and done in a group. We have about 20 kids, including 4 boys, in our group, and their skills range from advanced rec to high level competitive. Most of the kids have been together for a few years now, going to Ottawa for nationals in '06 and Austria last year for Worlds. This year's trip was an extra long weekend in San Diego.

I had arranged to drop off the bird with one friend and the dog with another, and swapping the use of my car for a ride to the airport. As it happened, we didn't need that, since one of the girls was flying standby and her dad asked if I would keep an eye on her and make sure she got to the hotel alright. He also drove us to the airport and said he'd bring us home as well. Perfect!

We had an uneventful flight down on Thursday, even arriving about 12 minutes early. It's a long enough flight - 3 hours - to watch a movie, and I only scrolled through half of the choices before I saw "The Other Boleyn Girl". I'd recently read the book, loved it, but didn't get around to watching the movie. As always, it wasn't as good as the book, but it was really good all the same.

When we arrived at the San Diego airport, we split up - some to catch a shuttle and the rest of us to grab a couple of cabs. The 3 kids (my own plus Emilie) sat in the back and I sat up front with the driver, who regaled us with his views on everything from politics to the local plant life (which he knew nothing about!)

We stayed at the Crown City Inn on Coronado Island...



Because of a mix-up in the bookings, we were stuck in a smoking room with a king size bed, so we weren't too impressed, given the stale smell and the view into the back parking lot. Our door was opposite the housekeeping area and right by the path from the lot to the inner courtyard, so the noise of...

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My father-in-law passed away this morning. He was only 83, but he hadn't been well, neither physically nor in spirit, for quite some time.

There is some confusion as to his exact bio, but the basic facts are that he was raised by his mother and his step-father after his own father was drowned at sea. He didn't realize this till after his mother died, at which time he hyphenated his name in honour of his father.

Raised in Germany, he was sent to boarding school in the Black Forest. As soon as he and his twin brother graduated, they were sent to the army. Walter was captured by the Americans almost immediately, and used as an interpreter and snuck out of the country. A few days after the war was declared over, his twin brother was shot down and killed. Walter received the sixth passport into Canada after the war, where he met and married his wife and had 2 sons.

He worked for B.C. Hydro for most of his career as a P. Eng, continuing as a consultant after he retired. By this time he was divorced and remarried with a young daughter.

His second marriage ended like his first, only in reverse, and sadly, it all but broke him, although it gave him a new relationship with his sons.

He was loved and respected by all who knew him. He leaves behind 2 sons, a daughter-in-law, a daughter, 3 beloved grandchildren, and me.

Rest in peace, Dad.
You will be missed.

Walter/Mike
Feb. 6, 1925 - July 14, 2008.

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What better place to spend the Victoria Day long weekend than.... Victoria?

My daughter had a gymnastics competition on the Island this weekend, so we decided as a group to make it a mini-holiday. We booked a hotel downtown, and started looking into various activities the girls might enjoy. Because the girls got moved from a Sunday session to a Friday session, we had to do a little scrambling, but fortunately most were able to make it because they were off school due to a Pro-D day. Friday is also my early day, so by arranging to leave an hour early and having another mom drive my daughter and walking on myself, I was able to meet the group on the 2:00 ferry to Victoria.

The meet was in Saanich, so we drove directly there and let the girls play on the playground before their warm-up time. They all did really well, injuries and all, and had a lot of fun. After they got their goody bags, awards and pizza, we drove downtown and checked into our hotel. Since the girls had already eaten, they were anxious to hit the pool, so Linda and I decided to see if we could find a place to grab a late dinner, since it was already after 9:30. One place looked to be full of "kids", and another said sure we were welcome to look at a menu but the kitchen was closed. We finally found Moxies, and asked to be seated out on the patio... and please don't turn on the heater - it was such a nice night. We split a chicken rice curry bowl, which was fabulous, but even better was the drink we had - it was made with rum, lime, 7up, and the selling feature for me.... a ginger liqueur. It was so good I had another.

Saturday morning I woke up really early - 6:01 - to the beep beep beeping of the alarm clock. I couldn't find an "off" switch, so I was reawakened every 9 minutes... and then again...

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But.

But what? What's the point of adding a "but" to anything we have to say?

"I'm sorry, but..."

No. Stop right there. You're sorry. That's it. Adding a "but" is just making excuses, which is simply a way of not accepting responsibility. "I'm sorry" is all you need to say.


"I love you, but..."

Again... shut up right now. What's with the "but" here? Nothing good can come after this "but". You know it, I know it, so if you truly feel you need to add something, maybe you shouldn't be saying the first part at all.


"You did great, but..."

Oh man. Leave it alone. Sure, maybe you might have done it a little differently, and maybe your way would have been better, but why point that out?

Apologies and compliments don't need qualifications. They're just fine on their own.

If you sense you're about to add a "but", stop talking.
The other person will surely appreciate it.

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