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So close…

Jaime just missed out on a gold medal in her single. She finished second. But for the second day in a row, a bad start hurt a Traynor rower.

Just like yesterday, when a bad start put Kelly in a deep hole from the beginning, Jaime says she had one of her worst starts ever today. By the time she recovered, she was down a couple of boat lengths and although the rest of race went really well…

What is this? A new Traynor curse at the Henley? I certainly hope not, since there are still races to be rowed. Both girls still have their eights left.

In Jaime’s second final, with her partner Lauren Chewter, their double didn’t have quite enough horses to catch a gold medal. They ended up getting edged out of third place at the finish, in a race that Jaime said was not one of their strongest efforts. Once again, big sigh.

But while Henley gold wasn’t in the cards today, I couldn’t be prouder of the way that Jaime rowed. My throat is still hurting from all the lumps it’s had in it today and my eyes are watering just remembering the races. It’s definitely worth all the effort. Congratulations to her.

So tomorrow, the eights begin. Kelly rows her first heat in the morning and she’s looking to advance to the semis. Jaime has a straight final on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s the updated schedule and of course, you can watch the results live at the Henley website.

HENLEY SCHEDULE – AUG 8-13 (Updated Aug 10)

TUESDAY (heats)
8:42 Kelly (Jr. Women Cox Four) RESULT 3rd – Did not advance
1:01 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single) RESULT – 1ST – Advance to semi
3:49 Kelly (Jr. Women Single) RESULT – 2nd Advance to semi
4:03 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double) RESULT – 3rd Advance to semi

WEDNESDAY (semis)
4:52-4:59 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single) RESULT 2nd – Advance to Final
5:27-5:41 Kelly (Jr. Women Single) RESULT 3rd – Did not advance
5:48-5:55 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double) RESULT 3rd – Advance to Final

THURSDAY (finals)
4:40 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single) RESULT 2nd
5:40 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double) RESULT 4th

FRIDAY (heat)
10:41 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)

SATURDAY (semi and final)
11:21-11:28 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)
3:15 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Eight) (FINAL)

SUNDAY (final)
2:40 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)
?? Jaime Dash For Cash

Another beautiful day in southern Ontario, and another good day for Jaime on the water. For Kelly, it was another disappointment, as she just missed out on qualifying her single for the final.

Jaime, on the other hand, placed second in her single semi, and finished in a near photo-finish with two other boats to go through to the final in her double.

Rowers often say there’s nothing tougher than rowing in a race where only the top two boats advance. It’s OK if you’re one of these two, but for the other four, there’s only disappointment. That was the case for Kelly today, as only the two fastest boats in each of the three semi-finals advanced to the final.

Kelly hadn’t rowed her single all summer, choosing instead to focus on the four and eights as a sweeper. And at Leander this year, mixing sculling (with two oars) and sweeping (with a single oar) wasn’t allowed. So she decided not to row her single.

A couple of weeks ago, with injuries to some of the other girls making her chances in the eight look less good, Kelly decided to enter a single in the Henley. But she still didn’t get too much opportunity to practice in it. So today, when she needed to be at her best, her start was not that good, and she ended up dead last at the 500 metre mark. Although she dug in and raced the remaining 1,500 metres like crazy, she just couldn’t quite make it to second and a spot in the final. But she certainly didn’t leave anything on the course.

So Thursday, we’re excited about Jaime’s two races. She’s up against all the familiar competition and she’s defnitely in the running to medal.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering why Kelly finished third but didn’t advance, while Jaime finished third and did advance — it’s a simple numbers game. There are so many more heavyweights competing than lightweights that they end up with a lot more heats, but only two from each qualify for the semis. Then they end up with three semi-finals, instead of two. And if you can only end up with six boats in the final, you can only take two boats from each semi. So the numbers just work out that way for Kelly this year.

And of course, the rowing isn’t over tomorrow. Kelly has the eight heats on Friday, semis on Saturday and finals on Sunday. And Jaime is racing the lightweight eight on Saturday (It’s a straight final, without any heats, again because there are only a few boats entered.)

So here’s the updated schedule. Jaime’s races are both later in the day on Thursday. I’m not sure of the time, but you can find it on the Henley regatta website.

HENLEY SCHEDULE – AUG 8-13 (Updated Aug 9)

TUESDAY (heats)
8:42 Kelly (Jr. Women Cox Four) RESULT 3rd – Did not advance
1:01 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single) RESULT – 1ST – Advance to semi
3:49 Kelly (Jr. Women Single) RESULT – 2nd Advance to semi
4:03 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double) RESULT – 3rd Advance to semi

WEDNESDAY (semis)
4:52-4:59 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single) RESULT – 2nd Advance to final
5:27-5:41 Kelly (Jr. Women Single) RESULT 3rd – Did not advance
5:48-5:55 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double) RESULT – 3rd Advance to final

THURSDAY (finals)
4:40 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single)
5:20 Kelly (Jr. Women Single)
5:40 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double)

FRIDAY (heat)
10:41 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)

SATURDAY (semi and final)
11:21-11:28 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)
3:15 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Eight) (FINAL)

SUNDAY (final)
2:40 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)
?? Jaime Dash For Cash

The Henley Regatta got under way for Jaime and Kelly today, and, well, three out of four is pretty good, in my books. The girls each had two races and ended up moving ahead to the semi-finals in three of the four races.

By the way, I’ll be spending a lot of time this week at the Henley, so don’t expect a lot of other stories from me for the rest of this week. When I’m not at the race course, I’ll be finishing up packing. By this time next week, we’ll be in Louisville, dropping Kelly off at her new home!

So if you don’t have a burning desire to be up-to-date on my daughters’ activities at Henley, feel free to take a pass on this blog for a few days. For the rest of you, here we go!

Kelly moved on to Wednesday’s semi in the Junior Womens Single, but her four just missed out moving through in the Junior Womens Four by finishing third. Because of the number of entries, only the top two boats in each heat advanced.

Jaime advanced to Wednesday’s semi-finals in both her Senior B Lightweight Womens Single and Senior Lightweight Womens Double, thanks to a first place showing in her single and a tight third in her double, with her partner Lauren Chewter. In Jaime’s races, the top three boats qualified for the semi’s.

The action continues for the rest of the week. Here is the updated Henley schedule for Jaime and Kelly. If you want to watch the results live, go to the Henley website and click on the Live Results button.

HENLEY SCHEDULE – AUG 8-13

TUESDAY (heats)
8:42 Kelly (Jr. Women Cox Four) RESULT 3rd – Did not advance
1:01 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single) RESULT – 1ST – Advance to semi
3:49 Kelly (Jr. Women Single) RESULT – 2nd Advance to semi
4:03 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double) RESULT – 3rd Advance to semi

WEDNESDAY (semis)
4:52-4:59 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single)
5:27-5:41 Kelly (Jr. Women Single)
5:48-5:55 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double)

THURSDAY (finals)
4:40 Jaime (Sr. B Lwt Women Single)
5:20 Kelly (Jr. Women Single)
5:40 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Double)

FRIDAY (heat)
10:41 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)

SATURDAY (semi and final)
11:21-11:28 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)
3:15 Jaime (Sr. Lwt Women Eight) (FINAL)

SUNDAY (final)
2:40 Kelly (Jr. Women Eight)
?? Jaime Dash For Cash

As a writer and an editor who often struggles to convince others that puncuation is important, I had to smile at the story on the front page of the Report on Business this morning.

“The $2-million comma” describes how Rogers Communications screwed up the punctuation in a deal they did with Aliant. They thought one thing, but a team of experts saw the misplaced comma as changing the whole meaning of the sentence. It’s a good story, and instructive for those of us who are prone to skipping over punctuation from time to time.

While there are those who think that proper punctuation is an out-dated notion, I think that grammar is making a comeback. Punctuation isn’t that important when you’re speaking to someone on the phone, for example. But with the increasing use of email, which ends up serving as the written record, it’s more important to be sure your written words mean what you want them to mean.

I’ve got a book sitting by my bed that is a must-read if you find this sort of thing interesting. It’s called “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” by Lynne Truss.

The book is full of all kinds of great stories about punctuation. But just to whet your appetite, here are a few excerpts, taken from her website:

To be fair, many people who couldn’t punctuate their way out of a paper bag are still interested in the way punctuation can alter the sense of a string of words. It is the basis of all “I’m sorry, I’ll read that again” jokes. Instead of “What would you with the king?” you can have someone say in Marlowe’s Edward II, “What? Would you? With the king?” The consequences of mispunctuation (and re-punctuation) have appealed to both great and little minds, and in the age of the fancy-that email a popular example is the comparison of two sentences:

A woman, without her man, is nothing.
A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Which, I don’t know, really makes you think, doesn’t it? Here is a popular “Dear Jack” letter that works in much the same fundamentally pointless way:

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we’re apart. I can be forever happy – will you let me be yours?

Jill

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we’re apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Jill

I like the way that one idea on the web can link you to another and then another and so on. And while it can eat up a lot of time, you often end up somewhere worthwhile.

I was scanning through some unread blog postings when I stumbled across a link to TED, a conference of 1000 thought leaders that happens in Monterey every year. I’m not even going to try to describe it. I suggest you click on the link above and explore it for yourself.

The presentation that I want to point you to is by Sir Ken Robinson, an expert on creativity in education. His presentation is deceptively simple.

He arrives on stage, with no slides and no notes. He just talks. He’s witty. He tells wonderful stories and the audience loves him. But as he warms to his main thesis, which is that “Creativity is as important in education as literacy, and we should treat it with the same status,” you can feel his passion pulsing. His stories become more focussed and the intensity is palpable.

It’s an extraordinary display of how to connect with an audience. Those of us who deliver presentations in our work will do well to watch the techniques he uses and consider how they might work in our own delivery.

Of course, there is no “right” way to connect with an audience. But in all the presentations I watch, it’s always “passion” that makes the best ones work. We need to see it in the presentators. We need to hear it in their voices, see it in their slides, and watch it in their body language.

Mind you, standing on stage and delivering a lecture is not the only way to present. And with today’s technology, most presentations use PowerPoint or KeyNote slides.

For many presentation, a good slide deck is mandatory. But learning how to use slides effectively is no less an art than effective speaking. If you’re interested in exploring some of the best uses of slides, check out the Presentation Zen blog, where you will find plenty of examples and advice on the latest in using technology in your presentations.

And to see some of the classics of the trade, check out the best work of some people like Lawrence Lessig, or Dick Hardt or Steve Jobs at MacWorld 2006.

Your own presentation style will evolve, of course, as you sample the work of others and start integrating the “good stuff” into your own repertoire. That’s the beauty of this new technology – how easily we can imitate. But the challenge is to move past imitation and creat our own unique style, full of the passion we need to be effective.

I know this blog is called TheDailyUpload, which implies that I’m only supposed to put up one post a day. And I just stuck one up there a few minutes ago.

But since I haven’t been as regular with posting as I would like, I thought I’d add another right now. And this is one that you can bookmark and play around with for awhile, while you’re waiting for my next Upload.

So, if you use technology in your life (and who doesn’t?) then this handy guide to useful hacks, which has been put together by Wired Magazine, might come in handy.

It’s got great ideas for taking better photos, organizing your website, being more productive at work — even how to save the world.

It’s kind of a fun read, so take your time and explore. And I’ll get busy on coming up with my next Upload — maybe I’ll even elaborate on that serendipity thing I mentioned about our house in Victoria!

I’m still a huge Apple fan. I’ve just convinced my wife to buy Apple computers for her new business in Victoria — and she’s delighted with the outcome.

I own several Mac’s myself, and at least one of my kids is using one. The others are still getting by with Windows, while they wait for me to offer to buy them a new one. Maybe I will…

Lately, a couple of people whose opinions I respect have switched back to Windows machines (which I still have several of, by the way.) They’ve done it for a variety of reasons, all of which may be valid – I’m not really sure.

But for me, I continue to delight in the hardware and the software, and the way it all seems to work just that much better than any Windows machine I’ve used.

Today, I came across an article in Wired News by Leander Kahney called Why I Love Apple. I couldn’t agree more.

Kahney uses his discovery of a simple software feature in his Mail program to illustrate the attention to detail and user experience that makes Macs different from most other computers.

Of course, all computers do the stuff you need to get done. But there’s a lot to be said for adding some “style” to things. And the Mac does it well. That’s why I love Apple, too.

Update — I just found a great post by Kathy Sierra on the Creating Passionate Users blog that talks about why great design makes things so much better — she could be talking about Apple.

Looks like we idealists are in for some major disappointments yet again. Our favourite start-up YouTube has gone and done in the small guy. Or have they?

According to a small change in their terms and conditions, if you upload a video to their site, you’re giving them the right to re-use that content any way they please, and they won’t owe you a thing. Here’s the new text that’s causing all the fuss:

“…by submitting the User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successor’s) business… in any media formats and through any media channels.”

The story got major play in BoingBoing (including a response from YouTube’s marketing people.) John Battelle has a story on it here. And Wired Music has something on it as well.

But while some are warning people not to post any of their content to YouTube, others say it’s more a case of bad timing, rather than malicious intent.

One aspect to this debate is that there is a solution out there already, and it’s the Creative Commons copyright license. So far, it’s only been getting limited attention, but I think it’s the perfect answer for how to deal with these copyright questions. And sooner or later, someone is going to take it more seriously. Open Source rules.

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see whether the bloom fades from the YouTube rose, and whether another video hosting site becomes the “next big thing.”