Confession: I had trouble spelling triathlon a few months back. Now, I’ve completed three triathlon events, improved my time, and internalized the proper spelling!

I just finished completeing an Olympic distance at the Coral Springs triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run). I am pleased with my effort at this event. My time was 2:34:08! Plus, in the men’s 20-29 age group I came in third overall (age group resutls here). Furthermore, I hacked over 15 minutes from my previous Olympic time (2:49:20). Not too bad (my goal was to improve by 10 minutes).
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Rogers has backpeddled on its iPhone pricing following the public reaction to its ridiculously overpriced rates. Meanwhile, Telus and Bell announce that they will soon charge their clients for incoming text messages! Welcome to Canada, a mobility wasteland.

This cash grab angers me for a number of reasons. Not only does it hamper the use, adoption, and development of an effective technology, but this plan shows no respect for customers. The sender of the text has already paid for the service, like a letter sent through Canada Post—the sender pays, the receivers the letter. How can Telus and Bell justify having both sender and reciever pay for the same message?
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This weekend I participated in the Foothills Charity Triathlon, which took place in Okotoks.

I feel great about how I did—eighth out of fifty-five males. I completed a 500m swim, 20km ride, and 5km run in 1:07:23! Of course, this race didn’t have a lot of elite racers (next week’s Coral Springs race will), but my time was still respectable. I really tanked out on the bike ride (16 out of 55) and I’m not sure why. I think I might have injured myself about a month back, because I’ve been feeling slow on my bicycle in general lately. I should probably ice the area in question and refrain from riding.

If you’re interested, you can see results at this webpage.

A quick note. After another busy week with ChristmasFuture, I had a great day yesterday—goodness to goodness. Sushi for dinner with a cold beer. For dessert, a milkshake at Boogie’s Burgers followed by a high score on the Ms.Pacman game. After, I spent some time writing at a coffee shop. When I returned home, a friend called me and invited me to see Broken Social Scene at the Sled Island mainstage. Not only was their performance excellent, but somone else gave me a ticket for the Saturday mainstage! Needless to say, I had a huge smile on my face biking home in the dark after the show ended.

Looks like it will be a great weekend.

I will read some new poems about people, technology, and tigers at the upcoming flywheel reading series, which will take place Thursday, July 3, at Pages Books in Kensington (1135 Kensington Road NW) at 7:30pm.

I will be reading with Asa Boxer and Dominique Frissard. Asa’s book, The Mechanical Bird (Vehicule 2007) will be available for sale.

This event is free of charge. I hope to see you there!

Dalmatians
“Hey, look, the truck’s stopping.”
“Did they take us to the park this time?”
“No—it’s a fire. Another horrible fire.”
“What the hell is wrong with these people?”

(copied from Simon Rich’s stories in the June 30, 2008 issue of The New Yorker. Free-Range Chickens is also quite funny).

My consciousness and appreciation of life seems to move in cycles. I’ll go present, for some few months, to my short days here on earth, enjoying life, love, and friendship . . . And then comes the walking slumber.

Do you know it? Somehow I cycle back into a form of automated perception and I start routining my way through the to-dos of life. I regularly have pull myself away from coasting through existence and instead opt to choose life. Recapitulate to consciousness, I might say (is this/should this be the reason people seek religion?).
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A note: I will undertake my second and third triathlons in July! The first occurs on July 5. The Foothills Charity triathlon is a short sprint (500m swim, 20km bike, 5km run) in Okotoks to raise foster care money for Ethiopian street kids. I’ve convinced a friend to do it with me, so last night I trained with him. Of course, training with a national level water polo player was very challenging, but I am proud to report that I didn’t throw up . . . not even a little!
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One of the blogs I follow just changed. This is not about that.

This post regards another blog I follow: Worldchanging.com. WorldChanging is about good stuff in general, however it has a large focus on environmentalism. Although many Calgarians may see their recent action as bold and impetuous, I find it basic and refreshing.
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This weekend, I participated in the Arbour Lake Triathlon; my first Olympic distance triathlon (I did a Kids of Steel tri when I was 12 or 13). I completed the 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, and 10 km run in 2:49:20. Arbour Lake has a reputation for being a more difficult course because it is very hilly. I faired well on the swim and bike, but the hill running was tough—I had to walk a few. Overall, I place 9 out 15 in the 20-29 age group, which is a pretty high energy group! In the men under 40 group I placed 24 out of 52. Overall, a respectable standing for my first time.

Here’s some things I learned from my first triathlon: (more…)