In days of summer past

In a recent post I commented on the ease with which I can post pictures to my blog. This made me happy and today I will use it for the first real time.

Back in July I had a chance to get together with a friend who I hadn't seen in over a year. We know each other from school but I had to take a year off and with us living in different towns we never got a chance to see each other. So one beautiful July day we decided we should get together before she left for teacher's college. She is into photography so another friend of mine lent me his digital camera so we went out in search of photo ops.

We started at an art gallery and then went on a cruise through North America's largest hydraulic lift locks. The boat ride was fairly uneventful but it was a good place to talk and it offered some great views. I wanted to post these pictures months ago but didn't know how. So here we go ...


This is fairly self explanitory.















This is from the top of the lift lock over looking a golf course.











This too is from the top of the lift lock over looking the city. In the middle of the city is a small lake aptly named Little Lake, in the middle of which is a large fountain which had been brought over from Switzerland by a local man for his wife. After a number of years he donated it to the city. You can just see the top of the water in the middle of the picture.








I liked the clouds here. They just seemed to epitomize the day.





















Again self explanitory.
















This is looking back of the stern of the boat as we are leaving the lift lock.




















This is another shot taken from the stern of the boat looking north.















This is one of the towers on which the lift lock rides up and down. Unlike most lift locks which simply pump water in to raise a boat, this lift lock has two large 'platforms' which seal in the water. The platforms are then raised or lowered carrying the boat up or down.







My friend who lent me the camera took a couple of the photos that I had taken and played with them a bit on his computer and came up with the following ...

Oh woe is me

So I decided recently that I needed to be more active. I had started doing some cycling during the summer. Nothing too serious just a ride with a friend. We could talk and catch up while doing something active. Of course things got in the way and that ended. So I was talking with another friend and he suggested that we could go running in the mornings after I get off work. So I hemmed and hawwed for a while before deciding that I needed to do something as I wasn't going to be playing rugby this fall.

So a few weeks ago I went for my first run. My friend mapped out a 4.5 km route that we would take and I would work my way up towards the full distance. Well my first time I lasted 10 minutes before I had to stop. We walked for 3 minutes, ran for another 10 an then walked for another 3 to end the trip. Not too bad I thought. The next time I made it 11 minutes before stopping but after the walk my legs were cramping badly and I had to walk the rest of the way home. So we started cycling in the mornings following a 20km route which worked well but I knew that I didn't have to work anywhere near as hard to finish it as I did the running.

Running is hard work. At least for me. So in the end my inherent laziness got the better of me and I started coming up with excuses not to go running. I've now missed three opportunities in a row and am still mentally wrangling with myself over going in the morning. I'm almost hoping for rain so that I have a 'valid' excuse not to go. Of course I'm the one putting myself up to it so I can easily give up on the notion but every time I look in the mirror I can't help but think that I need to do something. I know what I need to do: diet and exercise. Its rather simple really. You watch what you eat and be active. Of course I don't do either, feel guilty because of it and then retreat into a bag of chips and several hours of playing my PS2. I feel like such a moron at times.

I guess in the end I just want it to be simple. I don't want to have to work for it. I wish I was one of those people who can 'eat anything and not gain a pound'. I'm not but seemingly refuse to adjust my lifestyle to deal with that very real fact. I've got to do it though, cause in the end the only person I'm hurting is myself and if I don't care who will? This isn't something that someone else can do for me, I have to do it. I know I have to do it. Mentally I want to do it. So why don't I just do it?

So now the question is will it rain, will I be lazy or will I actually do what I know I need to be doing this morning, running?

Well that was easy

Here I've been wondering why it was so hard to put pictures on my blog and now I find out that it is incredibly simple.

It wasn't until my last post that I finally figured out how to make a word a link rather than putting the whole web address into the blog.

Perhaps I should spend some time one of these days and figure out what blogger is capable of so that I can improve my posts.

Until then I'll leave you with this picture I found and thought was cool as well as a link to a website which might come in handy to geeks like me.

Will wonders ever cease?

I was browsing through the internet a week or so ago and came across the following list. It is a list of books which dispirate people have challenged to have removed from various libraries and school curriculums. Some I found surprising, some not so much. Enjoy.

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990 - 2000

100. Jump Ship To Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
99. The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
98. The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
97. View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
96. How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
95. Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
94. The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
93. Sex Education by Jenny Davis
92. Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
91. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
90. Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
89. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford
87. Private Parts by Howard Stern
86. Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King
82. Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
81. Family Secrets by Norma Klein
80. Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
79. On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
78. Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
77. Carrie by Stephen King
76. Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
75. Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
74. Jack by A.M. Homes
73. Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
72. Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women's Fantasies by Nancy Friday
71. Native Son by Richard Wright
70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (the first one I've actually read)
69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
68. The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
67. The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
66. Guess What? by Mem Fox
65. Fade by Robert Cormier
64. Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
63. Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
62. Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
61. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents and Sons by Lynda Madaras
60. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (own it but haven't read it yet)
59. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
58. Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
57. The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
55. Cujo by Stephen King
54. Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (read it)
51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
50. Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
49. The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
48. Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
46. Deenie by Judy Blume
45. Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
44. The Pigman by Paul Zindel
43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (read it)
42. Beloved by Toni Morrison
41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (read it)
40. What's Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents and Daughters by Lynda Madaras
39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
38. Julie o fthe Wolves by Jean Craighead George
37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
36. Final Exit by Derek Humphry
35. We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
34. Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
33. Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
32. Blubber by Judy Blume (read it)
31. Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
30. The Goats by Brock Cole
29. Anastasia Krupnik (series) by Lois Lowry
28. The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
27. The Witches by Roald Dahl
26. The Stupids (series) by Harry Allard
25. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
24. Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
23. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
21. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
20. Earth's Children (series) by Jean M. Auel
19. Sex by Madonna
18. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
17. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
16. Goosebumps (series) by R.L. Stine
15. It's Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
14. The Giver by Lois Lowry
13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (own it but not read)
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
11. Heather has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
10. Alice (series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
8. Forever by Judy Blume
7. Harry Potter (series) by J.K. Rowling (read it)
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (read it)
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (read it)
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
2. Daddy`s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
1. Scary Stories (series) by Alvin Schwartz

Here is a Wikipedia article on banned books which provides information on many of the above listed books.