The Adventures of Newdale

Nancy and I arrived into Winnipeg on Thursday in order to visit Newdale in Manitoba for the towns 125th anniversary. Why visit Newdale - a town with a population of 100 people, which is located over two hours drive west of Winnipeg. Some might say that Newdale is in the middle of no-where, I wouldn't say that but no-where isn't far away. Not only were we there to be part of the celebrations, but also to see the place where Bob was born and brought up.

Newdale was originally named by Edward Cook, the area's first postmaster and it's derived from "new" meaning new district and "dale" meaning the low ground south of the little mountain (mosquito hill). The CP rail line came through in 1885 and the town moved to its present location to be near to the railway.

With Wendy and Brenda, we arrived into Newdale on Friday afternoon and checked into the only motel. Lets just say it was not the Hilton, but it was all part of the experience. We also visited a number of Bob's relatives who still live in the local area, including some of the people that attended our wedding. A highlight being a visit to a farm, meeting the livestock and the biggest tractor that I have ever seen - check out the photo. We also saw the house Bob was born in and the old Marks family farm. Friday evening events included seeing a local band and the fireworks display, which was much better than expected - although our expectations started off very low.

Saturday we enjoyed the free pancake breakfast, homecoming parade and then in the evening the dinner/dance in the local ice rink. One of major highlights for me was playing Manitoba soccer, which involved two fire engines, long fire hoses and a football. Basically I had to use the water pressure to move the football across the opposition goal line and the opposition can spray you if you step over your line. My game turned out to be a goal less draw, but it was great fun and I got soaked. The downside of the trip was the bug bites and mosquitos, at dusk I was bitten to hell - they seemed to like my fresh English blood!

Celebration of Light - More Fireworks

Since 1990, Vancouver has been home to the Celebration of Light. This is an international pyro-musical fireworks competition that has attracted the world’s leading fireworks designers and is seen as a highly prestigious event. The fireworks festival creates an exciting display where spectators enjoy the latest explosive techniques and the most innovative fireworks materials are used as different country teams compete to be crowned the winner. This was an event that we attended last year and really enjoyed, especially as it was free!

After work and a dentist appointment for me, Nancy and I wandered up to English Bay to sit on the seawall with the ocean waves lapping at our feet and the smell of hash in the wind. Tonight it was the turn of the USA team to impress and attempt to win the fireworks competition. This was no ordinary fireworks display due to the scale, number of fireworks, noise and sound track plus the huge number of onlooking boats and yachts in the Bay. Great spectacular for no cost!

Calgary Stampede 2010 - Less Brokeback, more Clint Eastwood

Last week, I had the opportunity to experience the Calgary Stampede for the first time, which was a fantastic experience. For those of you that are not familiar with the Stampede, it is an annual rodeo, exhibition and festival held every July in Calgary, Alberta. The ten-day event, which bills itself as The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth, attracts over one million visitors per year. It features the world's largest rodeo, a parade, midway, stage shows, concerts, agricultural competitions and chuckwagon racing.

The city of Calgary takes on a party atmosphere during Stampede; residents don Western outfits and events are held right across the city, including barbecues and pancake breakfasts. To really fit in with the locals I purchased a custom-made cowboy hat, which you can see me sporting in the photo. I got the hat from the same company that George Bush gets his cowboy hats from, and so I was in good company. That evening we went onto see the chuckwagon racing, rodeo and then the show with fireworks, acrobats, brass-band, singers and flyer motorbikes. The highlight being the chuckwagon racing, which involved wagons, four horses per wagon and a bunch of outriders, which thundered around the course at over 70 km per hour.

On the second night in Calgary, I was out on the town with my new cowboy hat and another one of my sales managers. We were an interesting sight - the British cowboy and a Chinese cowboy eating out in a sushi restaurant! You don't see that too often, even in Calgary.

Summerfast 2010 - Another 10K Road Race

This morning was my last official 10KM road race before we fly out to Washington DC for the official challenge race on 29th August. Based on my previous race result my goal was to have a time starting with 50 minutes, which means a race pace of 5 minute per KM. An ambitious target indeed!

The start of the race was located 500m south of Ceperley Park on the paved path, directly across from the Parks Board Office. The finish line was also in Ceperley Picnic Area at Second Beach, Stanley Park. The Summerfast 10k featured a course that was very scenic and fast as it travels around the Vancouver seawall. The race course was completely flat and after the start, the race course headed east along the south side of Lost Lagoon and over to Mile Zero. Here the runners completed a short side loop along Coal Harbour, very close to our apartment building, before heading out onto the seawall. The race course then followed the seawall in a counter clockwise direction, where unusually there was not too many people in our way.

The race went well with regards to pace and I kept a steady pace of just over 5mins per KM and the conditions were perfect with early morning sun, but not too much heat. Although the pace took it out of me going into the last KM and I was certainly puffed out crossing the finishing line.

So what was the result? Was it a personal best or did I fluff my last chance? Well, according to my Ipod the time was 51 min 3 secs. However, the verified, official race time was 51 min 7secs and so it was a personal best but not quite what I wanted to achieve.... Conclusion is more training and practice to get my time down.

A Tough Day at the Office

I received a last minute phone call on Monday afternoon, which was an invite to the Mercedes-Benz driving academy for all day Tuesday. This was an opportunity to drive a selection of Mercedes product, including the high performance AMG models like the E63 AMG (0 to 60 in 4.4 seconds).

An early start from Vancouver and a hour and half drive to Mission raceway was followed by a driver briefing and some learnings on race car driving tips, including trail braking. Then we were relased onto the track to complete lap after lap of performance driving - great fun and like I say a tough day at the office for me!

Underwear Affair 10K Run

Last night was the Underwear Affair 10K run for cancer awareness and research. I raised the small sum of $325 for the cancer charity, but it was also my third opportunity for a competitive 10K run time. My goal was to break the 55 minute mark and get myself closer in time to Kris and Ross (especially with Mr P dropping out of contention for the challenge).

The event was well organised and there were loads of people in fancy dress or very little dress to raise the attention for the cause. Nancy and I are both commented on the fact there was a great deal of flesh on show and somewhat distracting.

Anyway, the race course was along the Vancouver seawall and so was flat, except for one incline at the 8.5K mark which led onto and up the Burrard Bridge. It was a warm evening and I needed a couple of water stops to keep going, but in this race I wasn't held up by other runners. My time, according to my Ipod was 51 minutes and 16 seconds, subject to confirmation from the official timekeeping from the organisers. This is easily my personal best time for 10K and beat my last time by over five minutes. As you can imagine I am well chuffed!

I have one more competitive 10K race planned for next weekend on 17th July before we fly out to Washington for the official challenge. So the aim now is to get to 50 minutes, which will be going some to keep a pace of 5min per KM.

ADDENDUM - Monday 12th July
My official race time has now appeared on the website and is 51mins 30 seconds.

127   51:30.62  5501  86/197  M    Scott SHEARS

Canadian Please!

Here is a funny video clip that has been sent to me by Wendy and I thought I would share on the blog.

A couple of kids from London, Ontario on a YouTube clip - anyone want to be Canadian now?

Click the link.

CANADIAN PLEASE!

San Diego Trip

The last four days for us has been mostly spent in San Diego, California - all thanks to the public holiday of Canada Day. 1st July is Canada Day and my second one since moving to Vancouver and it was a great excuse for a weekend away. Nancy's choice of city was San Diego as she wanted beaches and sunshine due to Vancouver's poor summer weather.

We arrived late morning on Thursday, checked into our hotel and then did all the usual things of exploring the downtown area, harbour and sea front. Also enjoyed a couple of gin and tonics on the roof top bar of our hotel with the sun setting - all in all a relaxing first day in San Diego. However, the next couple of days were full of tourist highlights including a free bus tour of the city and the Old Town - it wasn't suppose to free I should add, but we managed to get away with not paying. The Old Town was a mix of a western-style town and a mexican village, full of gift shops but it was pleasant enough. One of the main highlights for me was in the afternoon as I went aboard the USS Midway, which is the second largest aircraft carrier open to the public. This huge ship is moored in the bay with a array of fighter jets and helicopters stationed on its flight deck. Nancy was too busy sunny herself at the hotel pool to appreciate this beast of ship, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Day three was even more action packed that the previous day, as it started with a two hour boat ride around the San Diego bay. This included a tour of the local ship yards and naval ship yard with about fifteen different war ships, frigates and destroyers, a naval submarine base and even some sea lions! After a dash from the harbour back into downtown, we then joined a Segway tour for the next two hours. After an initial training session in a car park, we set off rather unsteadily through the city streets visiting the local sightseeing sites. We soon got use to the machines and even managed to get them up to their top speed of 12.5 miles per hour! The Segway proved to be great fun and the perfect way to get round the city - note to self, find out the price to buy one. Walking has just been made redundant in my opinion. Also something we should consider for the upcoming Washington DC trip.

Off to San Diego

We are off to San Diego in the morning for four days of relaxation and sunshine.

Plus its Canada Day tomorrow as well - my second Canada Day and even the Queen is in the country this year!

Day of Emergencies

Wednesday was a day of minor emergencies for me, with my first ever earthquake experience followed by a late night fire alarm in our apartment building.

I was in Toronto attending a training course at Mercedes HQ and a magnitude 5.0 earthquake hit central Canada, rattling buildings from Sudbury to Quebec City, and as far south as New York City. The epicentre of the quake was in Quebec, about 500 kilometres from where I was situated, and struck at 1:41 p.m. EDT.

There have been two recorded earthquakes with a magnitude over 6.0 in the Western Quebec seismic zone: a 6.1-magnitude quake in 1935 and one measuring 6.2 in 1732. An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.0 is considered to be a moderate one but it can cause major damage to poorly constructed buildings over small regions. At the most, it should cause only slight damage to well-designed buildings. As Scott M commented it was enough to rattle the ice in your drink. From my perspective, my chair and desk quivered with the blinds in the room shaking on the third floor, but what was interesting was that no-one reacted with an emergency procedure. So much for being prepared for earthquakes. Anyway I survived to tell the tale.

I then flew back to Vancouver that afternoon, returning home and that night we were woken by the building's fire alarm at midnight. This meant that we had to rush out of the apartment down eleven flights of stairs and stand outside in our PJs. As you can see from my photo, the fire firefighters turned up and soon realised that it was a false alarm, allowing us to return to bed.

Hollywood North - AKA Vancouver

In passing conversation the other day, Nancy used the term Hollywood North to refer to Vancouver and I gave her a quizzical look as I had never heard that before. Vancouver is a popular destination for movie and TV shows production companies and is used as a substitute location for other cities and locations. Mainly because it is cheaper than the real Hollywood. Nancy wanted to share this and so in the enclosed link is a long list of movies and shows that Vancouver and the local area appear in......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_filming_locations_in_Metro_Vancouver

Do Bears sh*t in the Woods?

As I type this blog post I'm sat on the sofa with an aching body, this is due to sending said body down the side of the mountain at speed on a bike. All thanks to my Scottish buddy, Stu, who arranged a trip to Whistler for spot of downhill bike racing. Being a complete novice I had no idea what to expect and within a few seconds of hurtling down the hillside I was crashing out - not once but twice. We soon realised that we were on an expert blue run and not a beginner green run! Once we made it onto a suitable route it turned out to be an adrenalin fueled speed ride and we completed six runs in the afternoon, followed by a couple of refreshing pints.

Apart from the adrenalin rush, the major highlight of the trip was seeing black bears in the wild and these were also my first bear sightings in British Colombia. We saw the first bear on our first trip up the chair lift, then a second bear on the ride down and then the pièce de résistance was seeing two adult bears grazing about 30 feet away from us. The photos do not do them justice. And in answer to the question, I can confirm bears do sh*t in the woods as it was everywhere on the mountain side.

The Agony and Disappointment of England Football

Nancy and I have just come back from a pub in downtown Vancouver after watching England Vs Algeria in the South African World Cup 2010. All thanks to my boss releasing me from a meeting.

However, it was one of the most depressing and disappointing moments while watching the England Football Team! Lacklustre and shambolic are probably the best two words to describe the England Team performance and I just had to share my frustrations with the world! ARRRGGHHHHHHH!

Come on England! It is very simple now... a win or bust against Slovenia on Wednesday.

Most impressive stat of the day - England have never won the World Cup without a Fulham player in the Team.

Weekend at the Canadian F1 Grand Prix

This weekend I spent watching race cars going round in circles in Montreal. Although the highlight for me was personally meeting Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher, along with Mercedes test driver Nick Heidfeld.

I flew out from Vancouver to Montreal on Friday and arrived in the hotel late afternoon for a couple of drinks, followed by dinner with our group. Early on Saturday we headed over to the race circuit to watch Kart racing and the F1 qualifying sessions. The first thing to hit us as we got closer to the track was the immense noise of the engines, you could hear them for miles around. The hospitality tent was great, exceptional the complimentary Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, with a perfect view of the main straight and first chicane. This also happened to be where the first accident was on race day - with bits of carbon fibre spraying all over the track.

Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole position and on the Saturday evening we saw him in our hotel foyer, as he was staying in the same place. I spotted him and with persistence asked him for a photo (as above) - certainly not my most subtle of moments, but achieved the desired result. I congratulated him and wished him luck for race day. This was followed up by meeting Michael Schumacher (7 times winner at the Canadian GP) at the Mercedes-Benz party/dinner that evening. Not bad.... meeting two F1 World Champions in the same day.

Overall it was a great, fun weekend and managed to tick a few boxes - experience Montreal, visit a F1 Grand Prix, meet two of the best drivers and eat a bunch of free Ben & Jerry's ice cream! Oh Lewis won the race with his Mclaren, Mercedes team mate Jenson Button coming in second.

On My Way to Montreal....

As I enter this blog post, I am sat in Vancouver airport awaiting my flight to Montreal, as I head off to attend the Canadian F1 Grand Prix. I am hosting a Dealer event at the Canadian Grand Prix and so looking forward to a fun-packed weekend.

My only concern is where will I watch the all important England Vs USA World Cup match tomorrow. COME ON ENGLAND!

I would just like to thank....

is what I would have said if there was a winner's speech required at my playoff tennis final last night. Sadly, no speech was needed but I did take away the honour of winning the second group playoff in the UBC tennis league.

I have been playing in the league for the last 12 weeks and last night was the playoff finals. I beat two opponents (both 5-1, 5-1) to make it to the grand final and I won this 9-0 to take the title. The prize was simply an hour's free court time on the University courts, but the glory is what I enjoyed the most.