Tomorrow marks day one of the grand experiment in balancing fatherhood and career. Flex time begins with a mellow start to a series of ‘workless wednesdays’ that will find me telecommuting on vital matters but otherwise spending that day with Claire. Sure there will be minor adjustments to the plan, but for the coming months we will be amidst the modern parenting invention of daddy-daughter days spent around the city. I can’t wait.

Brad says: Mmmm… Blackberry Spam.

Need any more proof? Someone posed a link to Discover magazine who’s archives have a beautiful article on the work of two researchers who postulated that the course of human evolution has shaped us as ideal runners:

From our abundant sweat glands to our Achilles tendons, from our big knee joints to our muscular glutei maximi, human bodies are beautifully tuned running machines. “We’re loaded top to bottom with all these features, many of which don’t have any role in walking,” Lieberman says. Our anatomy suggests that running down prey was once a way of life that ensured hominid survival millions of years ago on the African savanna.” Ingfei Chen, Born To Run, Discover Magazine

Unfortunately, many of us have lowered our genetic advantage through mis- and dis-use, but there you go. Run on.

I’ll spare the deepest details, but I’ve been having a heckuvatime with my health lately. As such, there are a couple things on hold at the moment:

1) Running. In my current state, it ain’t gonna happen.
2) Coffee. Sigh. Well, it’s been two weeks without, so it’s fairly a moot point now.
3) Spicy food. Sniff. Alas, the tribulations of past youth.
4) Long stints at the computer. So, this whole blogging and writing thing is on pause.

In other news? I’m annoyed. Don’t be sick, it sucks.

And if you were one of those chicken littles, running about broadcasting insane claims about and impending end of the world due to a physics experiment in Switzerland, for shame. Don’t be messing with quantum physics. It’ll mess with you.

I did recently read Flashforward by Robert J Sawyer which is definitely recommended. And related to this particular topic, by the way. Just saying.

The chain of events goes something like this:

1) Brad and his family travel to the fine (but chilly) city of Calgary to visit with a handful of folks (of to whom they happen to be related) who choose to live there for some reason, and also to attend a performance of Cirque du Soleil. The girls’ grandparents take up the babysitting challenge, perform splendidly, guaranteeing them many more years of babysitting privileges (at absolutely no cost to them it might be added) and a free breakfast the next morning.

2) While attending Cirque du Soleil, Brad spots a souvenir set of juggling balls in the merchandise tent, but doesn’t bother to buy them, opting instead to travel home and forget about circuses for a few days. No worries. No regrets. Just fond memories stored in his head for a rainy day.

3) Rainy day. After returning home, Brad tries to juggle with a collection of small, stuffed children’s toys and not only fails to coordinate three simultaneous objects in the air, but fails miserably with two as well. He also discovers his skill with just a single object tossed between the hands leaves much to be desired.

4) Brad hunts down an online store that sells juggling balls, and then waits patiently until said balls are delivered. Meanwhile he ponders the rash decision-making process that leads one from attempting and failing at a highly coordinated skill to buying the so-called tools of the trade from the Internet.

5) To be determined…

With only a couple weeks to go before I settle into my new flexi-schedule at work and drop down to a four-day-per-week long-hours plan so Claire and I get a day together without Karin, I was thinking I should add a new series to the blog chronicling those sure-to-be fleeting days spent with the girl. After all, should some day someone need to look back for some insight on the effort — Claire, myself, or some other abstract third party considering the endeavor for themselves — it wouldn’t hurt to have a neat little reference to remember it all by. That, and its probably one of the more interesting things I’ll be doing this fall.

Ah, the excuses of blogging.

To kick things off, Daddy Days Part Zero — the preface, prelude, teaser-trailer — is this, and is nothing more than the nifty little fact that Karin toddled herself off to a work-esque function this evening and left Claire at home to look after her bumbling father. (She spent her first [half] day at the day-home this morning, to boot.) We ate dinner, collected the mail (as she tottered down the sidewalk taking time to drop into a squat and inspect each crack on the pavement) and performed the regular evening bath-and-storytime ritual before ‘mom’ returned for the final tuck-in. And everyone survived. Amazingly.

Thursday, is round two a the day home. And Monday it moves into full swing. How time flies.

This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Poor planning on my part — or not — but the long weekend played havoc with my running plans.  Ideally, I should find myself running wherever I happen to wake up on any given morning.  On this instance it happened to be in Red Deer for a missed Monday morning run.  But a hectic morning schedule, a sudden drop in temperature, and a late night out the evening before made for a negative result in the motivation department.  That, and I’d forgotten my gear back at home.  As I said, poor planning.

Week six is looking to be the turn towards dark and chilly as I aim to move steadily towards that five kilometer per session goal. Since it has been a good five days since the last session (oops!) I’m going to push the dog to go the distance this coming week.  That, and it’s an optimistic goal that September will see us both out on the trails, particularly in this climate.

The Plan for Week Six

Run 6.1: Wednesday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 6 mins, Estimated: 4.2 km
Run 6.2: Friday Morning,  2 sets of 10+1s + 8 mins, Estimated: 4.4 km
Run 6.3: Monday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 8 mins, Estimated: 4.4 km

New Considerations

Cold and Dark: A few weeks ago I was running in the heat and pushing the morning routine o keep cool.  These days, with the onset of cooler temperatures, we’re waking up to 4C-ish morning cool and my sad, short-haired puppy is not impressed.

Hydration: Sparkle looks after herself fairly well, but I’m finding I need to top up the ol’water levels the night before scheduled runs. I know. I know. Common sense, right? But you’d be surprised how easy it is to forget.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) *Asterisk and Italicize any items you’d be interested in trying but have not yet.*
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. *Epoisses*
17. *Black truffle*
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. *Foie gras*
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. *Dulce de leche*
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. *Bagna cauda*
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. *Salted lassi*
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. *Cognac with a fat cigar*
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. *Fugu*
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. *Prickly pear*
52. *Umeboshi*
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. *Durian*
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. *Louche absinthe*
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. *Baijiu*
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. *Lapsang souchong*
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. *Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.*
85. *Kobe beef*
86. *Hare*
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. *Criollo chocolate*
91. Spam
92. *Soft shell crab*
93. *Rose harissa*
94. *Catfish*
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. *Lobster Thermidor*
98. Polenta
99. *Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee*
100. *Snake*

This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4

The last week has shown a marked improvement in both my times and Sparkle’s attitude. Would you believe that she nudged me out the door on Monday, pulled all the way to the park, and was running before we hit the asphalt. She was eager to go, and knew we were running that morning. And — other than a squat-stop half way through — she was more than keen to go the distance that particular day.

I’m aiming for some lofty new goals — particularly in light of the high caliber of this past week’s runs. — and so I’m adding some significant time (well, six minutes) onto the upcoming sessions. Beyond stating that, I’m not going to say too much.

The Plan for Week Five

Run 5.1: Wednesday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 8 mins, Estimated: 4.4 km
Run 5.2: Friday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 8 mins, Estimated: 4.4 km
Run 5.3: Monday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 4 mins, Estimated: 4.0 km

New Considerations

Weather: Again, the days are getting short and cool. The mornings are growing quite dim. And it is no longer shorts-weather at six in the morning — even on a run. I’m keen to keep the pup running as long as I can into the autumn, but those who know her will attest that a winter dog she is not! Short hair, delicate paws, princess personality — so we’ll aim for a ten week program and see where we are after that. And where we are might be a lonely winter on the trails sans puppy.

So you are aware… with my role at the Fringe wrapping, I thought I’d dive head first into yet another photography project. Yes, it’s that time again. With Claire’s eleven-month birthday just yesterday I began a new daily photo campaign that can be located in the cool confines of my gallery; click the image below to locate it directly.

As for the Fringe stuff? Well, you may recall that I don’t actually retain the copyright to those pictures (or — before you sticklers correct me — I have handed over my rights to those pics in good faith to Fringe Theater) so I won’t be posting those anywhere public. You can have a look if you want by visiting and peeking at the slide show on the laptop.

This is a follow up to: Parts 1, 2 & 3

Not counting my five kilometer road race on Saturday, Sparkle and I are completed eight runs to date. And things continue to improve. For myself, I’ve had one of my best weeks ever, completing a total of nearly twelve kilometers over three runs, and clocking some of my best times. (I know, it doesn’t sound overly impressive, but we’re building up to something here!) Sparkle, despite some — I’m gonna say — boredom issues, is holding her own and anxious on our running mornings to get out the door.

Our schedule for week four is going to build on the progress, particularly considering I’m on holidays and I’ll be getting in three more runs before I go back to work.

The Plan for Week Four

Run 4.1: Wednesday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 2 mins, Estimated: 3.4 km
Run 4.2: Friday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s, Estimated: 3.2 km
Run 4.3: Monday Morning, 2 sets of 10+1s + 3 mins, Estimated: 3.4 km

New Considerations

Weather: Our weather (and upcoming forecasts) has included a lot of heat and a lot of rain. Mornings are relatively cool, but neither the dog or I are sleeping particularly in ideal conditions when it’s so hot. And she hates the rain. Keep going, I guess.

Puppy Pulling: I don’t know if it’s boredom or fatigue, but about fifteen minutes into the runs, Spark decides she’s pretty much has it and needs a lot — a LOT — of verbal encouragement to keep going. She starts slowing and hanging back, and is hesitant to run beside me.

Building Up: As I progress up to the “regular 5k” mark, I need to add a couple minutes onto the schedule every week. My plan is to be up to a routine of a morning five kilometer run by October. Basically, I’m looking at an average time of thirty-one to thirty-four minutes, up from the twenty to twenty-two minutes I’m running now. Adding ten minutes doesn’t sound like much, but it means I’ll need to incrementally add a couple minutes to the total every week. I hope the pup is up to it as well.

I know I mentioned that I’d be uber-posting episodes from the novella here this week, but I’ve needed to re-evaluate that particular goal due to some random distractions, inconveniences, and other personal reasons. I’ll try and get at least a couple up before the week is out, but realistically the one-a-day thing is now toast. Too bad.

On the other hand, check out the multiples of photos I posted in the gallery this morning, including (but not limited to) the thwack of cool lighting pictures from the storm that knocked out our power last night for over three hours, some shots of Claire and Lola at the Kids Fringe yesterday in the hours before the crazy-heatwave descended, and other randomness that some or all of you may enjoy. It’s all there.

Other pings:

- Tired: You’ve likely heard enough about my new leash, so I’ll reduce the blackberry talk for a while.

- Cool: I got some new sheet music in the mail last night, so I need to find five minutes to pull out the sax and give it whirl. Soon.

- Anticipation: Picked up some of my free Fringe tix so that Karin and I can go see at least one show.

- Envy: Dave got a photo with Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk who apparently dropped by the Fringe last night to hang out. (Afternoon shift equals pants. The late shift is the bomb.)

- Burn: Ran the five K race on Saturday in thirty-one minutes. Not great, but my best time to date.