The Restrooms of South Korea...

Ever thought about judging a country’s culture before by their restrooms' leisureliness and energy? Well, in the Suwon region of South Korea, they take their restrooms very seriously!

http://eng.suwon.ne.kr/ -- See Tourist Guide --> Beautiful Restrooms

Much thought and planning goes into making their restrooms a "comfortable place to take a rest or to recharge energy".... That facilities should be "harmonious with surrounding environment."

Under Sights and Experiences, there is a tour called “Sightseeing of the World Cultural Site of Hwaseong Fortress and at specialized Restrooms”, where you can see “A sightseeing course has been developed, linking the world cultural heritage site of Hwaseong Fortress and beautiful local restrooms. Tourists from both home and abroad can enjoy the sightseeing of Hwaseong and at the same time the novel experience of visiting specialized restrooms.”

Thanks to Fred and Anna on researching their upcoming trip to South Korea...

Eccentric America

http://www.eccentricamerica.com

Oh, the very bizarre things people do. This web site (and book) will keep you entertained about the weird and wacky. Just when you think you've see it all,... well, keep reading.

Reach For The Top

A small trip down memory lane....

In 1982 and 1983, I was part of the Reach for the Top team for my high school, Ballenas Secondary School. It was a fun intellectual and teaming experience.

Reach for the Top was / is a knowledge quiz show which had teams of top high school students from across the country compete for top school in Canada.

In 1982, as the only Grade 11 student, I was a "spare" on the school team. In 1983, I was one of 4 Grade 12 students to make the team. We practiced twice a week for months leading up to the show, using a very simple home-made quiz contest buzzer system to practice with. I recall the field trip to CBC Vancouver fondly. CBC gave us accommodations at the adjacent Sandman Hotel. I remember an elevator ride deep below ground to the studios, a short powder-puff of make-up, and instructions of how behave during the taping, including clapping when the "applause" light was lit. We lost our first and only game,... it was close, 185 - 175, or something like that.

Reach for the Top debuted on CBC Vancouver in 1961 as a television quiz game for high school students, modeled on the British television series "Top of the Form", and was an intant success. By 1966, 23 TV stations in all 10 provinces were carrying the show, with about 600 schools taking part. Terry Garner was CBC Vancouver's original host. Programs across Canada had different emcees, but it was Garner's show that was used as a training model for other CBC hosts. One of whom was a young Alex Trebeck, quizmaster for the Toronto program from 1969-1973, now host of Jeopardy!. Garner was replaced as host in 1982 by Eric Dwyer, and Reach for the Top was cancelled by the CBC in 1985.

Reach for the Top has continued to evolve outside of the CBC, primarily within the Candian Learning Television and Knowledge Network broadcasts. It continues be shown on several private and public networks. In 1985, the "SchoolReach" program was established, without the glare of television lights, is played by thousands of students, with its top teams invited to play "Reach for the Top" on television.

See www.reachforthetop.com and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reach_for_the_Top.

"But Dad,... I can smell it [Licorice] on your breath."

People who know me, know that I have love for Red Licorice, to the point of being very possessive about it. Same for chocolate. Oh sure, I'll share,... most times, but when it comes down to the last few pieces, back-off, they're mine.

Kids are smart though. Recently while seemingly trying to be sneaky and eat licorice behind my kids back, I got busted.

"Do you have any licorice, Dad?", asks my daughter knowingly.

"Who me?", I reply innocently. "Nope, I have none".

"But Dad,... I can smell it [Licorice] on your breath."

*** busted ***

This "Baby Blues" comic strip says it all. :-)

Triathlon Baseline

Signed up for the Abbotsford Triathlon today. The full Olympic distance. 1.5KM Swim, 40KM Cycle, 10KM Run. Not just the half Triathlon / Sprint Distance. It's my first ever Triathlon, something I've always wanted to challenge myself to do. Go big or go home.

The Triathlon gives me a big goal to aim for. Last year it was Mount Baker climb. This year is the Triathlon. It gives me focus to get more physically fit, eat better (less) and loose some weight.

I've baselined myself. I think I can do the swim less than 1 hours, the cycle in less than 2 hours and the run in about 1 hour. That 4 hours total elapsed time. Last years last place finisher had a time of 4:02:43. I want to beat that time. It's a modest time target. If I do better, then great. Remember this is my first triathlon, so that real goal is just to finish. Yeah!

Bradner Car Rally a Cliff-Hanging Success!

[Submitted to Bradner Barker Newsletter]

“Drivers! Start your engines!” That was the excitement that 21 drivers and accompanying navigators (and passengers) felt this Saturday, April 29, 2006, as the 1st Annual Bradner Car Rally.

OK, OK,… it was more like “Folks, since it’s raining outside, please line up at the [Bradner Hall] door and patiently wait for your instructions before departing”.

In intervals of one minute, the 21 cars were sent away from Bradner Hall, with rally instructions in-hand, leading the cars on a 2+ hour, ~100 kilometer trek around all corners of Abbotsford. The drivers and navigators had to carefully follow speed, odometer and directional instructions, and answer many skill testing questions along the way. What seemed easy on paper was quickly found to be much more difficult for many of the drivers.

Drivers and navigators had to locate 4 strategically placed Checkpoints along the route, and if found, perform further skill-testing tasks. Interestingly enough, these Checkpoints were harder to locate than several cars expected, causing some to succumb to opening their penalty-causing “Panic Instructions” just to get back on course.

Prizes and bragging rights were awarded to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and LAST place finishers. Note: A perfect score would have been ~200 points. Here are the official results:

First place (178 points):
Driver: Mark Tomashewski
Navigator: John Buchanan

Second Place (175 points):
Driver: Henry Wilsenack
Navigator: Logan Wilsenack

Third Place (172 points):
Driver: Fern McDonald
Navigator: Don Wenting

Last Place (-125 points):
Driver: Larry Meyers
Navigator: Andrea Tabian

It must be mentioned that the first place winners did not finish in the top position because of their ace driving ability or superior navigational skills, rather only because they were given 25 bonus points for rescuing one of the rally vehicles that had gotten stuck on Sumas Mountain, precariously teetering over a road-side cliff. Otherwise a lowly 8th place finish would have been their fate.

True rally champions were the second and third place finishing cars, who found all Checkpoints, obtained perfect skill-testing scores and stayed very close to the official speed & time (not too fast, not too slow).

With a score of -125 (yes, that’s negative 125), last place winners did not actually finish the rally because of a blown water-pump, thereby disabling their vehicle and sending them to a repair shop.

Pizza and refreshments were served afterwards at Bradner Hall, as the drivers and navigators re-told their stories of buying Cherry Ripe bars at Clayburn Store, throwing horseshoes at Albert Dyck Park, or swapping driver/navigator positions whilst climbing over each other INSIDE the car.

Funds raised benefited the Bradner PAC. Many thanks to Debbie and Ken Nielsen for organizing this super fun event. See you next year!

First 10K run

Logan and I ran our first 10K run together recently.

It was a charity thing for the Centre for Child Development in Surrey. We'd run before around the neighbourhood and country-side, but never a formal organized run.

Our time was 1:05:56. The goal for our next 10K run is to break the 1 hour mark,... easily done we think with a bit of pacing and training.

Not only was this a fun event, creating a bit of awareness for special needs kids, but I was very proud of Logan for challenging himself, completing the run, having fun and not complaining once. Looking forward to more runs and events together.

Hooray! Hooray! It's the First of May.

Hooray! Hooray! It's the First of May.
Outdoor screwing starts today!
-=-=-=-
The legend continues. With thanks to Ernie Hamm.