My first post of August

Days are gettting a little shorter. And nights are slowly starting to get a little cooler. Wow - the summer is winding down. That is not a good thing. I always know that the summer is winding down cause of my birthday and the CNE. Once August rolls around and those two things happen - well, it's time for back to school sales for those note totes or finder binders.

I'll be sending out some more information shortly about my birthday bbq/volleyball party. It's going to be on August 21st down at Ashbridge's Bay. I am thinking of asking you guys to come down around 12:00 noon and we'll stick around until the wee hours of the night. There is a volleyball tournament going on that day down at the beach so it is going to be VERY crowded - parking will certainly be a problem. But we'll manage - and it's all about car pooling and the TTC!

This Saturday (August 14th) marks the one-year anniversary of the Blackout. Crazy to think that that occured a year ago. I wasn't greatly affected by it like the elderly or disabled who lived in high-up apartment buildings so there was no problem for me. So, I actually enjoyed it. Looking at the stars, hearing about all the people walking around downtown. Kris and I even had an impromptu bbq cause I didn't know if I had enough gas in my car. Overall - a great experience.

Played a lot of v-ball yesterday in the rain for a good portion of it. We were hitting balls (spiking and serving) like no bodies business - it was wicked. Playing in the rain was pretty refreshing for most of it. Although it did get really annoying for a bit. There was this group of people playing beside who were spiking like crazy. They were really good. The girls (especially this really small one) were getting up there and hammering it as well. Man, that was awesome to see!

Been doing a lot of dragonboat for the past few months. I just raced in Woodstock on Saturday and will be in Huntsville this weekend for another race. I am slowly getting tired of it. Not the actual racing - it's just the travel to and from the races. In Woodstock on the weekend, we lost the A Final by about 80/100ths of a second. Man - that was close. Hopefully we'll do well in Huntsville next week.

My niece Ankita is leaving on August 14th. It's come time for her and her family to make their move. She's moving to NYC cause that's where her dad's job is. I really don't want her to leave. She's still a Canadian but I think she's going to grow up as an American kid (hopefully she'll keep many of her Canadian values). I really hope that one day down the road, they decide to return but I don't really think it'll happen cause once you start earning USDs, I imagine it's hard to turn around and say no to it. I will definitely do my best to convince her to come back to Canada for university though (but that is like 10 years away). I will certainly miss her.

Have a good week folks...