Sunday, November 30, 2008

Dad


Lately I have been thinking a lot about my dad... 
is name is Alfred..always loved that name...always loved him.

My Dad was a very hard worker from an early age and was working with is dad in the heating system industry before he started his own. He married my mom when he was 23 and she was 18. They have been married for 36 years. They raised two children..me and my brother, Eric , who work's for the family business. I was always the different one but my parents always supported my descisions.

I look a lot like my dad, long legs, no butt and a very shy personality. When I was a kid I used to snowplow the roads with my dad. He was working for the town and I would hear the phone at 4 in the morning and run to him and say "dad, can I come with you?" he would put me in the town truck and have me drive the side shovel of the snowplow...I can't tell you how many mail boxes I smashed...it was so much fun!

Lately my dad hasn't been feeling very good. I worry abut him everyday and I was wondering what was going on...a couple days ago my mom emailed me to tell me he has a sort of arthritis. Things like this come into your life when you expect it the least...
I think about him everyday and I love him so much. My mom has been trying to understand and support him the best she can, as a good wife.
I send all my energy to my dad and my mom. And god know's that I have a lot. My love and energy will hopefully help him get through this so he can ride his motorcycle again...with me alongside, but instead of snowy roads in Quebec, maybe it could be our first big trip together...in Utah. 
Je taime papa

Friday, November 28, 2008

wish...



Today I feel kind of BLAAAAAAA, grey weather, tired, and bored.
I wish I was under the sun riding in europe or somewhere ...

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving


To my family and friends
thanks for being in my life.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Week end in the Hamptons



Lets start with Life...

My life has been very good these last couple of months and this weekend was no different!
The whole crew drove down to Southampton, NY to race the Whitmore's cyclocross SuperCross. 
The drive down there is very nice a we have to take 3 different ferry to get there...as they say "you can't get there from here! " So thanks to Dramamine which has been part of my life for a while cause I have that thing called 'motion sickness'...and its no fun...Once I went on a fishing boat with Tim so he could catch some big ones as he loved to fish and I didn't have any so I tried something else called Gravol...I can tell you that they didn't work at all ...4 hrs of that and your pretty empty! I got on the ground and laid in the grass for an hour before feeling sort of normal again...
anyway back to the hamptons...

The organizer of that race, Myles Romanow is great, he takes care of the women as much as the men...I mean money wise!! We have the same prize list as the men and thats why at the end of september I accepted to race his race and only that one! he also added a couple extra's in there.... Myles and his wife own a very nice restaurant in Southampton called Wild Thyme (129 Noyac road..) I love to cook and I always wanted to be in the kitchen with a chef to see how it is. So part of the come back to racing for Myles race was to be able to put my hands ...on the chicken!! and I did! I met Frederick, the chef  from sweden on monday morning and he showed me a couple of things. He was great and I thank him for his time. I had also put a nice wine bottle on the list because Myles' wine knowledge is impressive...He gave Tim and I a nice bottle to hold on to for a while...

Racing again: I raced and I had the best time. It was cold and windy but when you haven't raced for a while you feel like you can do anything and not much bothers you. And it didn't. I won't lie, I haven't been riding my cross bike at all but...I've been doing so many other activities that I guess I was fit enough to be competitive! I was the last one to be called to the line. I just had to turn around 180degrees and be the first row...going the wrong way! The girls were very nice and gave me some space to pass during the race. I made my way through the field slowly and stayed relaxed. I couldn't catch Georgia which I don't think was possible anyway (she is an Olympian who's on form!). But I held on to 2nd both days. Nathasha Elliott made me work hard on Saturday as she really improved since last year, and my roadie friend Laura van Gilder who is new to cross made me step on the pedals on sunday to keep my spot. Thanks to you both !! and good job.

Sometimes at races you stay at hotels, sometimes at host housing...sometimes that can be painful. Tim and I stayed with Lois, a lovely woman who made us feel at home right away and had some great life stories to share. When we got there friday night she wasn't home and there were 2 doggies at the door. Myles showed us around and told us that we need to take the dogs out with a leash if we wanted to...I was busy and not really listening and didn't take that very seriously...I took the big dog out for some important stuff he needed to do. He did it and then stopped, looked at me....and bolted! It was dark and I got nervous that we would lose the husky, I didn't even know his name. Jeremy was very nice and started to run after the dog with his Iphone talking to Tim and trying to grab the dog at the same time. Running like a deer through the bushes and the yards like a mad man, he finally got him to come back home without even touching him. A real dog hunter! I ended up in the neighbors yard...running in the street ..with no luck but the dog was already back by then...I smiled. The next morning when I met Lois I told her my little adventure...She smiled too.

Sweets of life.
I love candy and the last couple of years every time we drove down to the Hamptons we would pass a candy store called the Candy Man. Well this time, I was not going to pass and just stare at it ...We stopped and bought $45 of treats and headed for the boat. Perfect.


 

 


Friday, November 21, 2008

Long time no see!

Hi everyone,
I know it's been a while since I've shared some of my adventures with you...
This morning,  coffee in front of me and some great times behind me I decided to write.

So the last time I was just back from China , had a great experience at the Olympics working for the TV. Im very glad I did it and I learn more about myself: Now I know that TV is not for me!
When they told me I got the job I couldn't say no. Its that kind of thing where you take the challenge no matter what..and I did. I saw how hard the people behind the scene work and how TV is not always what it looks like. I also realized how the public is hard. I kind of knew that but I was kind of avoiding it...It just came back at me like a tone of bricks. People critic without knowing what's going on. They are sitting in their living room and typing what ever come to their head without thinking..and sometimes it hurts. I know , your going to say that I shouldn't focus on that and I know that but I just cant let it go and I think thats why I didn't like doing TV.

Beside that I got the chance to walk on the Great Wall of China, visited the forbidden city,did a tour of the city on a bike that was just about to fall apart (I had to stop because the brake pads were in the spokes they were so loose!),tasted some great Chinese lizard on a stick, bought a chinese hat and travel around town with my Tv crew ...these guys were awesome and took really good care of me. I don't think we had more than 3 minutes without laughing ! Oh and I also notice how the traffic works: Trucks over  cars over  moped over  bikes with trailers carrying fridge and stuff over bikes without a trailer over walkers with trailer over pedestrian. its all about how big you are!
Flight home went very well...thanks to my sleeping pills and my glass of chinese wine!

and then August was over...and September came and I said where the hell did the summer go!
more to come...