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…and that means I’ll be spending the rest of the week at the Henley Regatta in St. Catherines. It’s going to be fun. My two daughters, Jaime and Kelly, are both entered in three events…the single, double and quad races. They’re racing for Leander Boat Club — just one of 122 rowing clubs from across North America (and as far away as New Zealand) entered in one of the largest rowing events in the world.

And they’re racing together in the quad! Putting them both in that boat (which has four people, each with two oars, or sculls, as they’re called by us rowing geeks!) was a last second change, so you won’t find their name in that race, if you’re looking at the daily schedules. You can find them at the Henley Regatta site.

SATURDAY UPDATE — Well, the Henley is over for the year out house. There’s still one day of racing left, but Jaime and Kelly are finished. Today was a really satisfying day, although that elusive Henley Gold stayed just out of reach. Jaime and Kelly, along with two others, had a great race…probably their strongest effort yet to place third in their final this morning. The girls were very excited about the race. Then, two hours later, Jaime rowed her single final. She blasted out of the blocks and posted her best 500 metres ever…but she wasn’t able to keep up the pace and ended up in fourth against some excellent women, all of whom are a few years older than she is. It was an excellent performance and a fine end to the regatta for this year. For Heather and I, this week has been one of high emotion…my eyes hurt from so many teary moments. But it was sure worth it. And we’re already looking forward to next year…

FRIDAY UPDATE — Today, the Traynor express finally hit a bit of a snag — but only just. This was a big day for Kelly and Jaime. Kelly and her partner, Beth Harris, rowed their first heat in the Junior B Women’s Double in the morning and qualified for the semis, which were in the afternoon. Unfortunately, they came up just short of qualifying for Sunday’s final, although they finished a strong third in their race. Then, about two hours later, Kelly rowed her third race of the day in the final of the Junior B Women’s Singles. It was a great performance, but Kelly’s hope for her first gold medal came up a few strokes short. She finished second to a woman from Saskatoon who rowed the race of her life to win. Talk about excitement. Kelly seemed OK on the course, but her parents were cardiac cases in the grandstand — but very, very proud.

Of course, the day wasn’t over. Jaime and her partner, Jenn Barkins, had their Junior Womens Doubles final late in the day. Like Kelly, they also ran up against a high quality field and today wasn’t their day to take home the gold.

Still, Leander’s day wasn’t over. Spencer Brewer and Jake Thomasen won Henley Gold in the Junior Men’s Double. Their victory, and the strong showing by all the other scullers, is a credit to the great coaching they’ve received from John Tice. Our hats off to him and all the other volunteers at Leander who give our kids such a great experience.

But they’re not quite finished yet. Jaime and Jen will join Kelly and another girl to row their final in the Senior B Womens’ Quad on Saturday morning. And Jaime will finish off the regatta Saturday afternoon when she rows the Senior B Lightweight Womens Single. So we’re not finished with the quest for the gold just yet…more tomorrow.

THURSDAY UPDATE — Well, it didn’t rain, but the wind was a big problem. Jaime, and her partner, Jen, did race early in their double and made it to the final by winning their semi. But not too long after that, Kelly’s semi-final singles race was stopped just after the start because the course was too windy. So we waited for four hours while everything was delayed. But after lunch, the racing began again, and they kept pushing races down the course, finally wrapping up the day’s events at about 8:30 pm. Fortunately, Kelly was still able to qualify for the final in the single event. So we finally made it home late and tired, but looking forward to Friday’s excitement. And according to the weather, it will be on the cool side, but the wind will be blowing from the west, which is better for the rowers.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE — The rain arrived today but with little wind and no thunderstorms, it was a good day for rowing. The only race we were involved in was Jaime’s first heat in her single. The 2003 Gold Medal winner from last year was one of the boats in her race, which meant that realistically, the other five were competing for the remaining qualifying spot. For those of us watching from the grandstands, the race was a real nail-biter. But for Jaime, cool as anything, it was just another day on the water, as she powered to a convincing second-place finish and a trip straight to the final on Saturday. What a race!

TUESDAY UPDATE — A very successful first day. We had three races and three second-places, good enough to qualify for the next stage in each of them. A threatening thunderstorm in the morning passed over without incident and it was a beautiful day for rowing. A great start to the week.

Jaime’s races:

Event 02 — Junior Women’s Double:

Heat — Tuesday @ 8:35

TUESDAY UPDATE — Jaime and Jen placed second and qualified for the semi’s

Semi — Thursday @ 8:21

THURSDAY UPDATE — Jaime and Jen won their semi with a very impressive performance. They out-paced all the other semis by over 10 seconds, and they’ll race on Friday for Henley Gold from the favoured lane 3 position.

Final — Fri @ 6:35 pm

FRIDAY UPDATE — The quest for gold came up just short. The double comes in sixth in the final.

Event 17 — Senior B. Quad (4X) Both Jaime and Kelly are in this boat

Heat — Tues @ 4:31

TUESDAY UPDATE — The quad placed second and qualified for the final on Saturday.

Final — Sat @ 10:10

SATURDAY UPDATE — They placed third in a great final. It was one of their strongest races of the year and couldn’t have come at a better time. They looked great.

Event 30 — Senior B Lightweight Single (1X)

Heat — Wed @ 12:19

WEDNESDAY UPDATE — Jaime’s second-place showing sends her to the finals.

Final — Sat @ 12:20

SATURDAY UPDATE — Jaime finishes fourth in a very strong field. She was second after 500 metres, third at 1000 and put in a great finish to almost sneak back into third.

Kelly’s races

Event 09 — Jr. B Womens Single (1X)

Heat — Wed @ 11:30

TUESDAY UPDATE — Kelly finished second and qualified for the semis.

Semi — Thur @ 9:17

THURSDAY UPDATE — After the long wind delay (see above), Kelly placed third in her semi, and moved into the final, which is set for the end of the day on Friday.

Final — Fri @ 5:25 pm

FRIDAY UPDATE — Kelly rowed a strong race to finish second in her first Henley final. Just wait until next year, she vows.

Event 72 — Jr. B. Womens Double (2X)

Heat — Fri @ 8:56

Semi — Fri @ 2:58

FRIDAY UPDATE — Kelly and Beth qualified for the semis, but they came up just short of making it to the final, finishing a strong third in their race. Time to start working on next year’s race.

Being a rowing dad isn’t all fun and games you know. Sometimes, we parents have to sacrifice ourselves for our children. Take this past weekend, at the Ontario Championships in Welland.

Those of you who follow this blog will know that my daughters, Kelly and Jaime have been having great summer seasons. And at the Ontarios, they continued their winning ways. Kelly won gold in the Under 17 Women’s singles event and picked up a bronze in the double with her partner Beth Harris. Meanwhile, Jaime won a bronze in her double, with her partner, Jenn Barkens, in the Under 19 Womens. But unfortunately for Jaime, her singles final was just 30 minutes after the double, and Jaime just missed a bronze, coming in fourth in the Under 23 Womens Lightweight category.

So what was my sacrifice, I can hear you asking? Well, Welland is unique among the local rowing venues in that a path runs along the entire two-kilometre course. That means that if you’re on a bicycle, you can ride from the start to the finish, watching every stroke. It’s a wonderful way to watch the race and for the first time, I took a bike with me on the weekend. I’ve never been able to watch an entire race like that. It was fascinating to see the determination and effort these kids put into this sport.

Over the course of the day, I rode back and forth from the boathouse area, to the course, down to the start and back to the finish. Over and over again. All on my seldom-used bicycle. As you might expect, by the end of the day, my legs were getting a bit sore, and I was not sitting quite as comfortably as I had been. But the races were exciting, and it sure seemed worth it.

Then I got in the van for the hour-long drive back to Hamilton, where Heather was arriving at the airport and was looking for a ride home. Everything seemed OK until I tried to get out of the van only to discover that my thighs were so sore I could barely walk. Things had stiffened up a lot during the drive home.

By the time we arrived back at the house, things were much worse. That evening I could barely move. I walked the dogs to the part, then worried that I might not be able to make it home. I could barely put one foot in front of the other! Fortunately, a lot of ice packs (and a few scotches) later, I was able to get some sleep. Sunday morning, we were all back at the regatta, but I left my bike at home. I sat in my chair on the side of the course and watched the races through binoculars this time.

This upcoming weekend, the kids have a weekend off, then on Tuesday, the Henley Regatta begins. It’s the ultimate event for the rowers and we’re all very excited. But perhaps the best part for all of us rowing dads is that there’s a bona fide grandstand at the finish, with seats and everything…what luxury!

I plan to post some links to the regatta pages when I know the girls’ final schedules, which should be later this week. And for those of you interested, you’ll be able to follow the results in near-real time on the website.

Any of you who have been following my posts here will already know that I’m the proud papa of a couple of talented young woman rowers. Well, now that the high school season is over, they’ve both moved on to club rowing this summer with Hamilton’s Leander Boat Club. This past weekend, Kelly Anne and Jaime both added to their hardware collections with great performances at the St. Catherine’s Invitational Regatta.

This two-day regatta is a warm-up for the upcoming Henley Regatta (Aug 3 – 9) one of the largest regattas in the world. (By the way, anyone interested can follow the results on the website during the regatta itself. I’ll be posting links to the girls’ events closer to the date they happen.)

Both Kelly and Jaime will be rowing at Henley for Leander. It’s Kelly’s first time. Last year, Jaime won two bronze medals. Needless to say, I’ll be in the grandstands, cheering like crazy. Watching your kids excel at something they love to do is very affirming for a parent. In fact, watching your kids do anything is pretty good…

This summer, Kelly and Jaime have been rowing in the single, double and quad events, although they specialize in the single and the double. On Saturday, Jaime (a lightweight) won a gold medal in her double with her partner, Jenn Barkens (a heavyweight). Guess which one is Jaime… Jaime also picked up a fourth place in her singles event. Kelly won gold in her single race, as well as finishing second with her doubles partner, Beth Harris. All in all, it was a very exciting weekend.

Next week, The RowOntario Championships are in Welland, then it’s time to get ready for the Henley’s. I guess you’ll be able to figure out what I’ll be doing on the weekend…

…just what the heck I’ve been up to lately. Well, the Tour de France is on right now, and has been for almost two weeks. That’s a lot of stuff happening. Then today, the British Open started. Of course, I had to pay attention. Plus, I’ve been building back stairs, driving kids around, burning discs to my new Mac…man, I’ve been busy!! So busy that I haven’t been worrying too much about blogging. After all, it is summer, right?

Hope you’re having a good one, despite the freakish weather that has been showing up across the country. Me, I spent today trying to get all the stuff on the basement floor out of harm’s way. Last night Peterborough was hit by a freak storm and basements and streets flooded like crazy. It could happen here anytime, and if it did, we’d be in trouble. So for once, I thought maybe I should try to get ahead of the game…we’ll see.

Summer’s here, and the blogging is spotty at best. I realize it’s been awhile since the last Daily Upload. Maybe I need to think about changing the name of this blog! But what the heck…it’s warm outside and while I might think about interesting stuff to put up, if I don’t get around to it, I doubt any of you are going to complain too much. You’re probably all too busy doing your own summertime things….

But here’s something interesting. Since the election campaign wrapped up in Canada, our attention (and our media) is going to be increasingly dominated by the Presidential campaign of our southern neighbours. There’s going to be a lot of stuff flowing around and it’s going to be increasingly difficult for readers to separate fact from fiction.

That leads to an interesting question on just what “objective” journalism means and how we might need to redefine that term in today’s information-rich, always-on, 24-hour news cycle world.

Here’s an interesting story from the Columbia Journalism Review that sets up the issue. I relate to this as an old political reporter. But believe me, compared to the pressures that today’s reporters are facing on the campaign trail, I look like I was living in another world, even though is was only 10 years ago!

Discussions about the role of the reporter in today’s political environment is a fascinating area, and it’s something I’m going to be keeping my own log on during the months ahead.

Isn’t this great? For all the talk about how this election was already over, the voters have proven that pollsters do not know everything. I’m sitting here watching the election results tonight and what do you know? The Liberals have slipped to a minority, but it’s a solid minority. And with the results for the NDP, the Liberals have enough votes to govern.

Right up until the results started coming in tonight, the pundits were predicting that things were too close to call. Then the vote totals started coming in. The Liberals did well in Atlantic Canada, but that wasn’t unexpected. Then they did well in Ontario, and you could see the puzzled looks all around. Then the totals kept coming in and it became clear that the Liberal numbers were solid, and the panelists seemed stunned. For awhile, they didn’t seem to want to admit that what was happening was really happening…but it was. And it did.

I think I like this result, but I’m going to have to think about it for awhile. But for now, I’m just delighted that the poll that counted — the one that we all participated in today — turned out to be different from what everyone said was going to be the result. That makes me feel good. And I think it should give ammunition to those like me, who want to reconsider the role that polling should play in the election coverage.

This story certainly isn’t over…

And no, I’m not talking about the current federal election. Although that does seem to be the prevailing mood of voters.

No, I’m talking about a new look for my blog. I’ve changed the colours and the layout. But the best thing about it is that it’s now standard-compliant. However, that won’t mean much to most of you, nor to me, if the truth be known. But I like the new look, and I like the navigation changes that are incorporated in this new style.

I’m interested in what people think, so feel free to add your comments. And thanks for checking in.

I’ve been struggling the past few days with the Canadian election. What to say? I’m still amazed at the vitriol that the electorate has for the Liberals, despite the comparative good times we find ourselves in.

There seems to be little doubt that most Canadians are doing pretty well, especially compared to other countries, or compared to where they were 11 years ago, when the Liberals took power. But that’s not good enough, apparently. I hear people say that things should be better.

It’s not that they really think any other party would do a better job. It’s more that the Liberals haven’t done a good enough job. And they’re arrogant. And they deserve to be given a slap on the behind and put in their place. And it looks like that’s exactly what is going to happen.

The English debate between the leaders last night, and the French-language debate the day before, were not really debates. They were opportunities for the leaders to try to speak directly to voters, without the filter of sound bites, or the know-it-all reporter voice over. But they rarely work. Instead, the leaders have to shout to be heard, and they’re forced to adhere to a tightly-controlled format that does not allow for any meaningful exchange of ideas. Instead, the leaders give well-crafted replies, even if they weren’t asked. They have a message to get out, dammit, and that’s what they’re going to do.

Am I cynical? I suppose so. I’m tired of the transparent phoniness of what we’re watching. Right now, in my riding, there are several candidates working hard to get elected. At least I think they are. I haven’t actually seen any of them. Nor am I aware of exactly what they’re doing. There are probably all-candidates debates happening but I haven’t been told about them. I don’t even know all the names that will be on the ballot, although a couple are obvious because I’ve seen their lawn signs. But my reality (and I suspect this is true for most voters) is watching the coverage of the leaders on TV, or reading about what happened on the national campaign the day before in the morning newspapers.

So what’s to be done? If there’s one thing that this campaign has exposed, for me at least, it’s that our electoral system needs a significant shot in the arm. Roy McGregor has been traveling the country throughout the campaign, and he calls it the election without an issue. The only constant is that people seem pissed off with the Liberals. Not enthusiastic for anyone else, but definitely mad at the Liberals. I think that’s significant. It points to a general mood among people that it’s time to change the system. Not just the people in power, but the whole way we elect people.

I’ve been working on some ideas for what I think that could look like and I’ll be posting them here in the coming days. It’s sort of my own way to sort through my feelings about our democratic process in the last few days of this current campaign. I’d like to think it’s the last one we’ll be waging in this fashion, but I kind of doubt it.

One final thought. In case you think that your vote isn’t worth anything, think again. Did you know that under the new party financing legislation passed this year, political parties will receive $1.75 for every vote they get in this election? That’s right. And that money is available to every party that wins more than 2 per cent of the national vote. That’s why this election is so important to the Green party. For the first time, they could have access to a significant amount of money to organize themselves for the next election. It also means that all parties will have more reason than ever to get their own supporters to the polls, regardless of whether they will make a difference to the outcome of the election. Every vote is worth money. It’s kind of a nice twist on the old idea that you could be paid for your vote…Instead, you can negotiate with the various parties to sell them your support. Perhaps you can work out some nice options in exchange for your support on the big day…

…much too long to get this post up. Both of my daughters, Jaime and Kelly Anne, were taking in part in the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Championships in St. Catherines this past weekend. And I’m proud to report that they each won a bronze medal!

Jaime won a bronze in the 63kg Senior Women’s Single, while Kelly and her partner, Beth Harris, rowed a wonderful race to get a bronze in the Jr Women’s Double.

Needless to say, I was so proud of them both, I could hardly speak. It was very exciting (who knew rowing was so action-packed?) and I admit a few tears were shed…

Best of all, my mother was visiting from Regina, and she, along with my sister from Edmonton and brother from Toronto, were all on hand to cheer them on. What a cool day it was.

You can check out the final results for Jaime’s race and Kelly’s race.

Kelly also made it to the finals in the Sr. Women’s Quad and came sixth.

And if you want to see some pictures of the races themselves, here’s one of Jaime and here’s one of Kelly and with her partner, Beth.

I’m starting to sound like a broken record, I know. My plan was to be posting items that cover a wide range of ideas and possibilities that affect us in our day-to-day lives. Or as I put it in the title of this blog, “A look at the events of Dave’s world, updated as circumstances warrant.” But it seems I can’t quit writing about this gosh-darned federal election. So just a short one this morning.

Over the weekend, I saw a few stories about polls and their influence on the election. Is there any doubt that they affect the outcome? Call me grumpy, but I side with Dr. Foth on this issue. The media now is trumpeting the fact that the Liberals are sliding. They’re into a minority government, perhaps even moving to a Conservative minority. These predictions are given as fact. Then the question becomes, how will the parties handle this new reality. The media and the polls have completely hijacked the democratic process, as far as I’m concerned.

It’s not that I don’t like statistics, and polling. But I think it’s dangerous to start talking about the results as if they were “objective” or somehow represent reality. They are no such thing. For example, suppose a reputable polling company went out and polled 1200 voters randomly on election day, then extrapolated those results and compared them to the reality of the actual results? Does anyone seriously believe that they’d be right? Or even close? Do you really believe that the pollsters would be right 19 times out of 20? I don’t think so. Think about it.

I remember learning in high school about a theory that the very act of observation affects the outcome in a scientific experiment. I don’t remember who first put forward that idea. More recently, quantum physicists have discovered that the act of observing causes a change in any action. This could have profound effects on how we transmit and verify secure information, among other applications.

More relevant for me, this also means that the very act of reporting poll results affects the outcome they are supposed to be predicting. People are affected by hearing what is supposed to happen. It’s inevitable that hearing about polls will affect the outcome. So although some might argue that as individuals we have the right to know the results of these polls, I submit we should ban the publication of the results. If the various media outlets would agree to stop commissioning these polls and publishing the results, our democracy would be a much more interesting place.