Category: Activities

Bought a paddle

Tonight’s “B Team” workout was actually a paddle tryout. We had a representative from Brača-Sport with about a dozen different paddles, and both the rep and Dan were doing a pretty good job of matching us up with paddles that are good for us. In my case, they suggested I try the Brácsa II, the VI and the VIII, but they were sure I’d like the VIII the most. And I did. The VIII has a very long and narrow blade, and it gives me a very gentle catch. With my big fat wide Big Spoons paddle, paddling hard gives me a big hard jerk when I first put the blade in the water and start pulling, but this one seems to ramp up from less drag to more gradually.

Dan, Lars (the factory rep), and several of the other paddlers remarked on how much better my stroke was with this paddle. Being a wing paddle, it comes out of the water as it passes my body almost on its own. And it’s light as a feather.

I’m really excited about this paddle – as I’ve been ramping up the amount I paddle in preparation for the Long Lake race, I’ve been getting more elbow pain, and I think the more gentle catch will go a long way towards alleviating that pain.

Funny story: the company is called Brača-Sport, but the paddles are called Brácsa. That wasn’t intentional – but after they made their first lot of paddles, they sent them out to be silk screened, and they came back with this typo on them. They had spent all their money on the carbon fibre, and had none left to fix the problem, so they shrugged and changed the name of the paddles but not the company.

Is this a first?

I bet there aren’t very many other people out there who have turned in a resignation letter at their job the day they went to pick up a new car. Well, I’ve just done the resignation letter, and I pick up the car in a few hours.

Update I forgot to mention: as well as the offer from Global Crossing, I have another offer from Paychex. The Paychex one surprised me, because I’d only had a phone interview with them and I’m not used to getting a real offer without having a chance to meet people face to face, look around the facilities, etc. Because I was expecting it to lead to a face to face interview instead of an offer, I didn’t ask enough detailed questions about unimportant things like “where are you located?” and “what will I be doing?”

I’ll never understand the thought processes of stupid people

I got an email to the mailman administrator account from somebody claiming that the previous owner of his email address must have been a pilot, and he wants to be unsubscribed from the mailing lists because “they clog up my mailbox”. I run a bunch of lists for pilots, but none of them average more than one message a month, so I wasn’t initially inclined to be kind to him.
Continue reading “I’ll never understand the thought processes of stupid people”

A long one

In a probably futile attempt to get ready for the Long Lake kayak race, today I decided to duck out of work early and do a longer paddle. I wanted something not as fraught with power boats and wakes as Irondequoit Bay, and not as shallow and draggy as Irondequoit Creek. And the solution I came up with was the Genesee River.

I started at the Genesee Waterways Center, which is a boat house for rowing crews as well as a boat launch, and headed upstream. I don’t know why, but I started pooping out really early, but by alternating paddling and resting and paddling again, I managed to do 6 miles in 1:27. In spite of the fact that I was going upstream and into the wind, it actually took me 44 minutes to go up, and 43 minutes to come back. On the way up, first a single rower passed me by and continued upstream, but on the way back the river was full of 8s, coxed 4s, dual sculls, and motor boats with coaches. It’s too bad I was so bagged, I would have liked to hold my own in the level of effort if not the speed with all those boats.

Committed

As in, “I should be”, I think.

I’ve been kicking around the idea of participating in the Long Lake Long Boat Regatta kayak race. It’s a 10 miler (Dan says it’s closer to 9 miles, but I’m not sure I believe him). I was doubtful about doing such a long race, but he said that if I tried 3 times a week between now and then, I could do it. I was torn between trying it this year, or waiting for a year and giving myself time to get used to such a long distance. And there was a Hugger’s Ski Club clambake that same day – Vicki and I were doing that sort of “well, if you want to do A, I don’t mind skipping B” dance, and again I was thinking the clambake would be a good excuse to miss the race this year.

But at the same time, Vicki and I have talked about taking a couple of weekends away at a nice hotel or B&B. And then I discovered that the start line for the regatta is on the beach in front of the “turn of the century” Adirondak Hotel. Suddenly it seemed like things were swinging the way of doing the race – Vicki and I can have a nice weekend away at a nice hotel, and I can have my race, and Sunday Vicki and I can go for a nice leisurely paddle together. And they have a vacancy with the room with the queen sized bed and the private bathroom. SOLD! I just hope they have a hot tub to recover.

I wonder if Frank will let me borrow the Looksha?