We headed back to Ao Nang in the late afternoon, not quite as smooth sailing as in the morning since the wind and driver’s speed seemed to have picked up. Unfortunately, Ellen and I were on the side of the boat receiving most of the spray and resorted to wearing our goggles until we got back to shore. Next to me, Beck hid under a towel and emerged when the boat’s motor turned off and we anchored at shore. The girls headed into Ao Nang for massages while the boys drank beer, and then we had an awesome dinner near the beach. Thanks Alex and Ellen for an amazing day!

Just when the excitement from our Chicken Island adventure died down, it seemed we needed some more entertainment around the Tawanthai Hotel. Yesterday afternoon, as we were heading home from a bike ride, Beck and I noticed a tiny kitten hiding under some abandoned stalls. Well, you can guess what happens when two cat lovers come across an abandoned kitten looking for food and some TLC. I rode home with the cat tucked inside the front of my jersey, we cleaned him up, fed him some dinner, and off he went to Christine’s room for the night. He spent the morning in my room, and the afternoon in Beck’s. This lucky little Tiger just landed in three laps of luxury.

I’m loving the hot 40+ degree weather here everyday, swimming 50m instead of 25yds like I do back home, and biking 4+ hrs while seeing only 1 traffic light. I also love the cheap $9 massages, and the watermelon and cocunut that cost less than a dollar on the side of the road. The one thing I’m not a big fan of are the dogs that seem to appear out of nowhere in every size, shape and colour. I’ve been called crazy but I swear the white ones are the ‘chasers’. I take off in a sprint whenever I see one to avoid having the seat of my pants torn off!

I’ll get around to posting more pics later, but here’s one of the four elephants who live about 100m down the road - Elvin, Ellie, Edith and Ernie. I’m here for 2 months so I’ve gotta call ‘em something…

And this is Thai-Bo, the cute little hotel cat who I’ve been known to feed on occassion…he’s a little scrawny so I’m helping him beef up a bit.

More pics coming in my next blog….

More pics to come in a few days from Singapore and Thailand…

Whether Mr.Groundhog sees his shadow tomorrow or not, I am very happy to be ending my winter in a couple of weeks by heading off to camp in warm, sunny Thailand.

One GroundHog Day in particular stands out in my memory. It was 02/02/02 and I was leaving home and leaving my job as a PT in Canada to head to camp in Brazil for the first time. I remember thinking about the significance of that particular date….wondering if I would be returning back home to my job and back to winter if things didn’t work out….or if spring was just around the corner with new pastures to explore.

I’ve had many early springs since then and also a few forced winters in between. But winter makes you appreciate spring, and I am very happy to have the opportunity once again to head off to camp in a couple of weeks. Thank you Mr.Groundhog for not seeing your shadow in ‘02.

I do hope for the sake of all North Americans who put their faith in Mr.Groundhog that he doesn’t see his shadow tomorrow, but instead leaves his burrow searching for spring flowers and new pastures.

The most recent book I’ve finished is “We Might As Well Win” by Johan Bruyneel (Lance Armstrong’s coach for those who have been living under a log for the last ten years). With all the recent talk about our upcoming training camp, there were a few sections that stuck in my head and made me realize how excited I am about heading back to camp.

“Gathering the team for our first training camp of the year, is an occasion not of hope but, more accurately, of optimism : the entire season lies before us - ours for the taking if we are willing to work hard enough, and think enough, and sacrifice enough.
The loss is in the past, which can not be changed. The win - it still lies up ahead, waiting for us, and it will stay there until we figure out how to take it.”

And before stage 16 of the 2007 Tour, Johan says to Levi and Alberto, ” ‘We must ride in such a way that if we do not win, we lose. To have a chance at the top step, we have to be willing to never take one step off the podium.’ I was telling them that to take the yellow jersey they had to be willing to ride so hard it would endanger their podium spots. All or nothing. Willing to risk losing to win.”

Ok, time to hop on the windtrainer and think about which book I’ll start next!

But I do have a bit of a “salty tooth”. I bring the saying “Once you pop (a can of Pringles), you just can’t stop” to life, and I can easily devour a jar of pickles, salsa or pickled beet in less time than it takes to open the jar.

So for my New Year’s Resolution, I decided I would send the Pringles on a little sabatical, and put a healthy twist on my “salty tooth”. It all started Christmas Day when my father-n-law gave me a jar of his homemade pickles. I sampled one and then the rest were history…unfortunately not making it to Christmas dinner. So I took his pickle recipe and decided to try my hand as a Pickle Maker. Put all the ingredients together in a pot, boil it for 4 minutes, cut the cucumbers and add the pickle juice. How difficult can that be?

Well, aside from crying my eyes out while I was cutting the onions (I’ll use goggles the next time), my pickle experiment didn’t turn out too badly. The only problem was that I devoured both jars as soon as they were done. So now I’m heading back to the grocery store for more ingredients….covering my eyes while I walk past the Pringle aisle.

But I do love Christmas, and I’m always thankful at this time of year for all of the special people in my life, including my team mates, coach and Alex for giving me the opportunities that I’ve had over the last year. THANK YOU. Looking forward to the New Year, and Best Wishes to everyone in 2010!

The last few days it’s been in the 50’s (or 10 degrees C) in San Diego, and I’ve been freezing my butt off. I came home from swim practice a few days ago, with my teeth chattering so loudly that it actually made eating cereal quite difficult. And when I went out this morning, it was with two pairs of pants, 3 shirts, a winter jacket, hat and gloves. Ahh, much better.

But this all brings me back to my point that I have reason to voice my opinion (not “complain”) about the cold. When I grew up in eastern Canada, it was warm. Heated house, heated car, heated indoor pool, heated stores and heated coffee shops. I never really had reason to be cold. I was in Arizona this summer, and it’s the coldest place I’ve ever been. I’m sure the AC of any indoor establishment would break world records for the coldest indoor temperature. And spending time outside would be a death wish of another sort so we won’t even go there.

Anyway, I’m watching the thermometer today and willing it to go above 60. Actually, I secretly wish that it could be stuck on one temperature forever. In fact, I could even be a little flexible….anywhere between 80 and 90 degrees would suit me just fine. Wishful thinking I know. But if the cold weather keeps up I just might have to make a trip back up to Canada to warm up.