ITU Duathlon Water-Aid Station Peachy Keen Partial Eclipse Blues: Monday, August 21st!

I'd prefer to die on my feet than to live on my knees. -Charb (pen name of Stephane Charbonnier), caricaturist and journalist (21 Aug 1967-2015)

Hi Pat looks like you are having a wonderful time in the Okanagan.
All I do here is work day and night. Right now my present curse is that I actually got an art grant from the city of Vancouver to make artistic bike racks.
You may remember years ago you helped me get some letters of support from the biking community for this bike rack thing. So as part of this exercise I am having a kick off reception at Makerlabs in Vancouver. The intention is to let the public review designs of cute bike racks and discuss. I plan on having a panel of bike enthusiasts plus a city bike rack engineer to talk about good and bad bike racks. Do you have on your rolodex any listing of Vancouver bike people who might like to voice their opinions on bike racks??? Ron
 

Hi Mr Grizzle! Delighted to hear from you and congratulations on your art grant from Vancouver! As you can see, I have included a number of fellow cyclistii who might be interested in influencing your bike rack designs.  For my part, yes, we are certainly enjoying life here in the Okanagan, in Penticton, in particular. Funnily enough, am just back from doing a volunteer shift at the ITU Multisport World Duathlon Championships. I did a shift at the water-aid station, handing out bottled water to any riders who indicated they wanted such. Felt like I was a domestique in the Tour. I'm watching recorded episodes now as it was on when we were in LA for our youngest grandson's wedding in early July. Buona Fortuna with bike rack design. Cheers, Patrizzio! 

PS: Pelotonii, please forward names if you think other friends might be interested. Pics: Water-aid Station on Lakeshore near Power.Start of set-up around 6:45 am; Para Duathletes, visually impaired, were some of first to go by but obviously something went wrong as they were walking back not long afterward! Giants Head in Summerland. Contestants do two loops to Trout Creek for a total of 40 km on the bike with two runs, one before riding, and then another afterwards. Fellow volunteers; one of the first Duathletes, whizzing by at around 7:30 am. Hi Guys I have a City of Vancouver Public Art Grant to create beautiful bike racks for East Van. I am writing to invite you to the kickoff reception for this "Cycle Savers" project on this Thursday Aug. 24th at Makerlabs, 780 E. Cordova. During the reception I would like to arrange a panel discussion on the subject of public art as related to bike racks. I will make a short power point presentation entitled "Bike Racks for Vancouver - the Good, the Bad and the Ugly"  

I will touch upon standards for racks and illustrate a range of artistic bike racks from other cities. Would you like to sit on this panel for half an hour and contribute your opinions on improving the cycling infrastructure for Vancouver? I am the lead on Cycle Savers on behalf of the Vancouver Community Laboratory, an East Van non profit of fifty people who are volunteering to build better and beautiful bike racks for East Van. Thanks for your consideration! More information below at the links. Sincerely Ron Simmer: http://vancommunitylab.com/ https://www.facebook.com/CycleSaversProject/
Hi again, Mr GrizzleYour fire-breathing dragon is fabulous! Do you plan to do snow removal? Cheers, Patrizzio! Snow removal! another great idea!

Eclipse as seen from the Apex Mountain, and busy sky with all those airplanes. Cheers Mike Hi Michaelo! Thanks for the wonderful snaps of the eclipse. Great place to view them from! Rebekah improvising at work to see the eclipse with a monocular Worked well. We used welder's glass at the soup kitchen where I was volunteering today. Corinne Those Durstons! No wonder the police had to be called to come to settle the mini-riot at the soup! I'd be rather upset if I had ground glass, especially welder's glass, in my Soup Kitchen soup. I would have thrown more than a bun at you Lady Dar! Fondestos from Blind as a Bat Boy after gazing at the eclipse through an empty wine bottle. I'd have been fine if it had been a red wine bottle, Rosita! Only good thing is that my new white cane has a corkscrew in the handle! Cheers, Patrizzio!

[Rebekah improvising at work to see the eclipse with a monocular]

I must not have been on the original email so this makes no sense to me but sounds like something interesting happened! Yeah I'm with Ayn??? What the heck happened?? Hello Confusoids! Not really an email but rather a comment about Nana's shift, yesterday morning, at Soupateria, a few blocks from our place, for homeless/street people and others, when some of those waiting got into a nasty altercation being high on something or just plain drunk. Staff called police and by the time things were sorted out the doors were opened later than usual. Later on, after meal was served, a chap asked for a plastic bag to take some "overlefts" away and your Mom said she was sorry but there weren't any. He responded by throwing a piece of food at her and yelling something like, "Well, you might as well have this back as you don't care about vagrants!" Her sentence, in reference to eclipse, made it sound as if the cook had put ground welder's glass into soup, something I'm particularly sensitive about as it has happened numerous times here, at Burns Street, along with a pinch of arsenic seasoning, just for good measure! Love, Concrete Lined Stomach Man!
 

Pics: With respect to more eating habits, here are a couple of snaps of Duke having breakfast. He uses his paw to hook a dental crunchie from his bowl onto the floor and then proceeds to chomp it there, leaving a swath of bits and crumbs around the dish. We should send the boys up to be Nana's body guards and keep the riff raff in line. Anyone who messes with her will get the fire hose from LAFD's finest new recruit! Duke's mess is the equivalent to leaving too many shoes at the back door at Hotel Kits Too bad you no longer have a skylight any more to fling his dental crunchies out onto the front lawn. Hi Water Canon Mama! Let's solve two problems at once: We'll use LAFD's fire hose to swoosh Lady Dar's shoes out the front door onto the front lawn so that homeless people can wear designer shoes. No more riots, no more tripping over shoes, everybody wins and Imelda can start acquiring latest from Milan with her share of loft sale! We even have a fire hydrant on the corner of our block! Cheers, Patrizzio Volunteer Fire Warden for Burns Street!

Hello Water Bottle Babes! Loads of fun this morning. Sorry about your fall, Pamela, but trust you will be fine. Here are some snaps.Please share with any I might not have addresses for. Cheers, Patrizzio! Patrick, Lorna, Francesca and Jan, Thank you so much for responding in the affirmative when I asked if you would help out this morning. Despite my fall, I had a great time. It was a beautiful morning and it felt good to help out at an event that shows off our home city to such an advantage. I enjoyed manning the aid station alongside you. Thanks again for your willing help. Pam Dearest Head-over-Heels Goil, et al Thank you for the kind words and thanks, directed to all members of the ITU Aquanauts, however, as one of the two male members of the elite water distribution scheme, I take exception to your term, "manning" the aid station. 

This is nothing but a blatant sexist remark, akin to something Donald would tweet, and, as one of the two men there, speaking for myself, of course, my Sensitive New Age Male consciousness is offended in the extreme! I trust that after soaking your injuries in your splendid hot-tub, and soaking your fevered brain with a couple of bottles of expensive Naramata hootch, you will come to see the error of your ways. Perhaps "polysexing" is a more appropriate, non-gender based verb but I leave it to others, far more qualified than I, to determine if this be the case or not. Until next we meet, I remain yer' ever 'umble and more than obsequious Super-Domestique Patrizzio!

Patrick, Thank you for the correction...that is a correction that my daughter would have also made...I am trying to use only gender neutral language but I slip up from time to time. Hi Similarly Put-Upon Parent! Both Lady Dar and I sympathize with you as we cannot do anything right, [everything from a speck of dust on a shelf to fashion advice, even for Corinne, never mind me!], as far as our two daughters, Ayn and Chloë, are concerned. How we managed this far, we really don't know, other than to say we'd be light years ahead, financially! Cheers, Pauper-in-Pocket, but not in Spirit, Patrizzio!

Patrizzio - Thank you for your observations. However, as self-appointed auditor of the ITU Aquamauts, I feel I must follow up on your count of "two male members". I counted three. Perhaps I misinterpreted the role of one of the male members? Or perhaps you are being exclusionary. If so, surely this is akin to sexism? This follow up is not intended to bruise your sensitive new age persona. It is, alas, a reflection on the sad state of mathematics education in our fine country. Lorna Dear Overly Concerned Mathematics Educator, et al! I certainly appreciate your über-sensitivity towards my Sensitive New Age Persona! Your obvious tact in not wishing to ruffle feathers is certainly much appreciated and I trust my response will not offend your razor sharp mind. Unfortunately, since you are the self-appointed auditor of The Aquamauts, [Perhaps you wished to say Aquamutts although the term I used was Aquanauts!], alack and alas, your misspelling, intentional or otherwise, is nothing but another telling example of the sad state of literacy education in our fine country in this over-digitized age!

Furthermore, I beg to differ with you about the number of male members in the Gunga Din Gang. Tian, working at the furthest reaches of the distribution chain was outside the official ITU Feed Zone, [See ITU Handbook, Section W, Sub-section H, for bottle holding and hand-off techniques.], for placement of re-hydration tables and while his help was most appreciated, his presence cannot be counted in official stats, hence, my count is correct! In closing, I trust you will find this gentle reproof leaves your self-appointed auditor's ego unscathed and I hope to see you at the next Penticton Spelling Bee. Cheers, Patrizzio the Perfect!

Dearest Patrizzio, et al indeed. With ego unscathed, I am both corrected and humbled. I had not apprised myself of the existence of the ITU Handbook. I admit I was guilty of assumptions with respect to the official reaches of the distribution chain and that I should have exercised due care before challenging your count.

In an attempt to minimize spelling errors, I have now graduated to my computer keyboard. Alas 'tis my over-used texting thumbs that are the cause of my misspelling and not the failure of our school system. Although you may have a point about over-digitization and a critical discussion on handwriting must be left for another time.

While I would not be a worthy participator at the Penticton Spelling Bee, I will most certainly cheer for you from the sidelines. You are indeed a credit to the Aquanauts! Respectfully yours, Lorna J Dear Lorna Thumb! Pleased to learn that your Super Ego remains unscathed, asit should be, given you have managed to shift the blame your texting digits! Still, I'm unconvinced that you are not a worthy candidate for the Spelling Bee and look forward to cheering you on, on the podium, and not from the sidelines. I, remain, as ever, your Fellow Aquanaut. Cheers, Patrizzio! 
  

Patrizzio, What’s this!?!?! “Artistic” bike racks??? Has Mr. Happy Planet switched over from fruit smoothies to cactus juice? Don’t get me wrong, I am in favour of the majority (but not all) of the initiatives taken to separate cars from bikes (who do not play nice together). But, if you are going to spend public money in East Van, ... ANYWAY, I now have a table saw - and it is a nice one. Folds down, pops into my truck bed effortlessly. Have TableSaw, Will Travel! See Pics! Finally, check out the video. Once a year, amateurs can drive their personal cars on the Nürburgring race track. I’m the guy in the bimmer! Branko Further to my last remarks about “artistic” bike racks, I recently encountered this bit of very good advice ...Dear Mr Ragin' Bull! Please kindly direct your acerbic remarks, directly to The President! Let me thank you in advance, White House Press Secretary Patrizzio!

Hi Ragin'! I quite enjoyed your discourse/tirade on Mr Happy Planet/artisitc bike racks and spending on public art in East Van! Will you attend Mr Grizzle's panel? What a handsome table saw, Paladin, indeed! Materials aplenty await! [Hello again, Ragin'! Yes, I need to say more as you already sent me the Twain quotation! Just back from a 71 km outing to OK Falls and environs. Account to follow as soon as I drink two Growlettes from Iron Road craft brewery in Kamloops! Cheers, Il Conduttore!]
 
With respect to Chilliwack Cabinet, we do indeed have muleage, of same, there, so am wondering when next you brave the drive to the Okanagan, if you could stop by to collect it from Guiseppe, Sarge's Uncle Joe. Kind of a reverse of your last bit of purloinage from Burns Street! If you feel you could manage this, I'll provide exact street address and dimensions to ensure that there is room, along with your table saw and bike, in your fabulous truck bed! Anyway, let me know and we'll plan accordingly.

Must say, as well, that I certainly enjoyed your "race" on the Nürburgring track. Guess there really is something to being a professional driver! Were any "dopes" injured, maimed or killed in the making of this Don't Do This At Home Kids home video? Talk soon. Cheers, Patrizzio! Pics: Not so fastidious feline! For Juno!!! 

Hi all, What a great outing last Thursday! The day was hot; the water in the creek was low; the company was great…couldn’t have been better! This Thursday, we will keep things just a bit tamer. We’ll take a stroll along the peaks of Beaconsfield and Apex. We will: -meet at 0800 at HH north parking lot (0740 at IGA in Summerland) -carpool and make our way to the parking lot near the ski patrol cabin -hike the meadows and slopes. We are likely too late for much in the way of flowers, but I am certain we will find some beauty in the landscape and the views (assuming there isn’t a lot of smoke) -return to Penticton and find a suitable location for debriefing and refreshment. I am not too concerned about numbers, so no need to reply. I hope we’ll see a few of you there. Cheers, Jim

Hey! Thank you sooo much for the beautiful card and the very generous gift! We missed you guys at the wedding but hope you guys had a great time at the wedding you went to! Again thanks! Hi Kimbo! We too, were very sorry to have missed your wedding but I hope we'll see you both, at some point in the not too, too distant future. A couple of snaps from wedding Lady Dar performed. Cheers!