Precious metals!

These two very fine and good looking gentlemen recently entered into to some very exclusive territory ... they became my newest friends! Pat is the taller of the two and he's a full time resident of Pelican Bay, while the other is Ed from Indianapolis. Their connection is that Pat's daughter married Ed's son, hence the two are now officially connected as in-laws, but their connection is pretty gosh darned cool because they and their spouses are very close friends. I'm not sure how their children feel about that but I'm willing to wager that they're tickled pink, as the saying goes. The reason for our new found friendship is my Argon18 Dark Matter bike. I was just back from a ride and chose to go cool off in the outdoor shower by the pool. Pat was there and asked about my "steed". We had a short conversation about biking. A couple of days later, I was back at poolside after a ride and Ed, ever the extrovert as I have come to discover, was immediately curious, drew Pat into the conversation, and we shared a few moments about our common interests. Making the situation even better, after talking bikes for a bit, the two extended an invitation to join them in a couple of rides while Ed was in Naples both visiting Pat and vacationing in Marco Island. Our ensuing social rides allowed for the sharing of stories, opinions, and interests all leading to a wonderful opportunity to have people to connect with in various parts of the USA. 

In these times of virtual financing, online banking, paying with plastic, and E-Commerce, there are those who I know that strongly believe a stash of wealth that endures the ebb and flow of financial tides while avoiding the whims of Wall and Bay Street using an investment in precious metals. Of course, the age-old question surrounds the choice of metal, be it silver, gold, or even the relative newcomer, platinum. Regardless, the sheen and lustre lures even the most seasoned investor.

My choice of metals is not unlike my choice of friends. 

The golden oldies made decades ago, the silvery steadfasts from the tumultuous mid-life years, or newly minted platinums from recent times, it matters not as long as I figuratively shine them to a deep lustre with regularity. While I won't argue that wealth makes the choices of life easy, true riches are gained through by fostering friendships that support us as we navigate the hills and valleys of life, the true measurement of success. I have often shared that conversation with my wife as we enjoy each other's company on a walk or a ride, taking stock of the great relationships amassed through the various experiences of our years, and finding sincere gratitude for the assortment we possess that have each played a part in our life's journey.

I graduated from Queen's University in 1986 as a part of a pretty wondrous group that bucked all the odds when 102 of the accepted104 curious minds survived the adventures of 4 years in the School of Physical Education, a staggering success rate at the time. Bolstering our spectacular nature, we have all made the extra effort to return for Homecoming events in an effort to stay in touch over the past few decades. One of my old (I hope she doesn't mind me using that term) classmates recently reached out with an invitation to rekindle our friendship when she realized we would be escaping the ravages of a Canadian winter a few kilometres of each other down in the Sunshine State. Plans were made to share a beverage and a meal with our spouses and my mind was soon awash with images and snippets of those crazy years in Kingston, prompting me to reflect on how blessed I feel to have led a life with rewards such as this. Many, many thanks to Lindsay Healey ad her hubby Larry for reaching out, sharing their incredible personalities, and welcoming us into their list of acquaintances. We were enjoying the night so much that we neglected to get a decent photo to commemorate the night, resulting in a the poorly lit awkwardness of my darling wife. 

Sorry honey!

Further to that point, my most steadfast, loyal, enduring friendships were forged in the tempest of intercollegiate football during our joint struggles to achieve the sports ultimate goal of a Vanier Cup. Every football team is subdivided into smaller groups of like-minded units like "O" (offense) vs "D" (defence) or "Hogs" (linemen) vs "Pretty Boys" (QBs and running backs), and it follows logically that our commonality creates deeper connections. I have written before about the escapades Shadillac (#55 Mike Schad), myself, Sammy (middle Sam Ashton), Frank (at the back Frank Kakouris), Arn (far right Steve Hudson) have found ourselves in as we rekindle those tight bonds from the early 80's. To this day, they are treasured, loyal buddies that I know have "my six", as the saying goes. This cursed pandemic has thrown the proverbial monkey wrench in the gears and we all can't wait for the thumbs up to get together again to share in all things Golden ... Gaels! 

I wrote a while ago about the tragic loss of fellow hog John Larsen (CLICK), furthering our yearning to get together regularly ... You never know when your time is up.

I've ruminated the past about the plethora of shared shenanigans in the trenches of education that created both shuddering giggles and  full-on belly laughs thanks to the incredible people I have called colleagues, fortifying some of the relationships that through the years became near and dear to my heart. Listing some of the most influential ones is dicy because I run the risk of hurting feelings, but those from my years in room 119 at Central ... Ron Andrews, Pete Kalbfleisch, Sue Berardi, Brad Chestnut, Kyle Sweezey, Barb Sturrock ... certainly factor into the list process. Suffice it to say that there were many who graciously allowed me into the "inner circle" and positively affected both my day to day and my year to year. It will come as no surprise to those who know me that I reserve a sizeable portion of my heart for the relationships from those years and it brings be tremendous joy to share in their "graduations" as we slide from active duty to those cherished retirement years.

While it's obvious that friendships from my past hold immeasurable value, the ones that I have made recently have also brought me great satisfaction. It goes without saying that my twilight years at Barrie North gilded some passing acquaintances into deeper friendships, some of which directly result from changes in my focus as I fell for new-to-me passions like cycling, just like Pat and Ed whom you met earlier. I've shared some photos in other posts about my cycling buddies Kevin Simms, Jay Rothenburg (from Barrie North days) and Hardy Wind (from Barrie Central days), but in case you missed that post, the photo above shows one of my bike posses. Kevin is front right with the yellow on his helmet; Jay is beside him on the right; Hardy is mugging for the shot behind Jay. The other awesome gentlemen in the shot are Doug Woods at the front left and Sam Loucks next on the left behind Doug. This was early in my biking days ... seems weird to say that since I've only been serious for 2 years ... when this crew pushed me through my first 100km ride. 

Getting back to my point, I am proud of my "wealth". I have amassed a wondrous number of friendships over my 58 years and I am proud of my success. They mean more to me than the traditional meaning of the word ... don't get me wrong, money is nice to have ... and I find a large number of my daily smiles are directly related to those relationships. 

Of course, no diatribe about friends would be complete without acknowledging my bestest buddy of all, my darling and dead sexy wife Joyce. Retiring right before the pandemic may not have been the Master Plan, but it has forced us to spend a copious number of hours together and I'm pleased as a peacock to say that our friendship is the closest it's ever been. 

Pandemic, Shmandemic. There's always a silver lining, eh?

Fun Facts

In my continuing series of posts created from diving into the Internet in a search for neat things, here's a handful of interesting factoids that you may or may not be aware of. Well, at least I find them interesting! I've tried to include the reference for each in case you wish to dive a little deeper yourself. I gathered this list from a host of sites that contained lists of interesting facts. Some of these I already knew; some were just weird; some really got me thinking. I hope they have the same effect on you!

From the world of humans:

The tallest man ever recorded was American giant Robert Wadlow (1918–1940), who stood 8 feet 11 inches was the result of abnormally enlarged pituitary gland. (guinnessworldrecords.com) 

The tallest living man is 37-year-old Sultan Kosen, from Turkey, who is 8 feet, 2.8 inches, who set the record in 2009. His growth is also due to a pituitary issue. (guinnessworldrecords.com) 

The oldest person ever to have lived (whose age could be authenticated), a French woman named Jeanne Louise Calment, was 122 years old when she died in 1997. (guinnessworldrecord.com) 

There are no muscles in your fingers with movement controlled by muscles in your palms and arms. (assh.org) 

The hardest working muscle in your body is your heart; it pumps more than 2,000 gallons of blood a day and beats more than 2.5 billion times in a 70-year life span. (heart.org) 

It’s impossible to hum while holding your nose ... just try it!. (scienceprojectideasforkids.com)

Speaking of your nose, the human nose can distinguish at least a trillion different odours. (nature.com) 

The skin is the body’s largest organ. (numerous; medlineplus.gov)

All of an adult human’s blood vessels, if laid out end to end, would be about 160,000 kms, so they could encircle the earth 4 times. (fi.edu) 

From the non-human world:

The oldest living land animal is a tortoise named Jonathan, who is 187 years old. He was born in 1832 and has lived on the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean since 1882. (guinnessworldrecords.com) 

Bats are the only mammal that can actually fly. (doi.gov)

Wombats are the only animal whose poop is cube-shaped due to how its intestines form the feces. The animals then stack the cubes to mark their territory. (bbc.com) 

The heart of the blue whale, the largest animal on earth, is five feet long and weighs 400 pounds. The whale in total weighs 40,000 pounds. (nationalgeographic.com) For comparison, an elephant’s heart weighs around 30 pounds. And a human heart? A mere 10 ounces. BTW, Elephants can’t jump. (smithsonianmag.com) 

Octopuses have three hearts. (octonation.com)

Cows don’t actually have four stomachs; they have one stomach with four compartments. (fda.gov) 

The platypus doesn’t have a stomach at all: Their esophagus goes straight to their intestines. (nationalgeographic.com) 

Polar bears have black skin. And actually, their fur isn’t white—it’s see-through, so it appears white as it reflects light. (worldwildlife.org)

Tigers’ skin is actually striped, just like their fur. Also, no two fur patterns are alike. (tigers.org.za)

Flamingoes are only pink because of chemicals called carotenoids in the algae and fish (which also eat the algae) they eat. Their feathers are greyish white when they’re born. (nationalzoo.si.edu)

Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal in the world because they kill more people than any other creature, due to the diseases they carry. (cdc.gov)

From the world of food:

Sliced bread was first manufactured by machine and sold in the 1920s by the Chillicothe Baking Company in Missouri. It was the greatest thing since…unsliced bread? (chllicothenews.com) On a related note, the Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, who lived in the 1700s, reportedly invented the sandwich so he wouldn’t have to leave his gambling table to eat. (pbs.org) 

German chocolate cake doesn’t come from Germany. It was named for a person, Sam German, who created a type of baking chocolate for Baker’s in 1852. (npr.org) 

Hawaiian pizza was created in Ontario, Canada, by Greek immigrant Sam Panopoulos in 1962. (cbc.ca) 

Almost all commercially grown artichokes, 99.9 percent, come from California. One town in particular, Castroville, is nicknamed “the Artichoke Capital of the World.” (visitcalifornia.com) 

The different colors of Froot Loops cereal all taste the same—they’re not individual flavours. (time.com) 

What’s inside a Kit Kat? Broken Kit Kats that are damaged during production—they get ground up and go between the wafers inside, along with cocoa and sugar. (today.com) 

Pound cake got its name because the original recipe required a pound each of butter, flour, sugar and eggs. It’s a lot of cake, but it was meant to last for a long time. (food.ndtv.com)

The difference between jam and jelly is that jam is made with mashed up fruit while jelly is made with fruit juice. Preserves are like jam but made with more whole fruit. Marmalade is preserves made from citrus fruit. (bonapetit.com)
More people visit France than any other country (Spain is 2nd; the US 3rd). (e-unwto.org) 

Speaking of visiting, the Four Corners is the only spot in the US where you can stand in four states at once: Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. (navajonationparks.org)

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos were developed by a janitor at Frito-Lay, Richard Montanez, who got the idea after putting chili powder on some reject Cheetos and then pitched it to the CEO. He’s now a successful executive and motivational speaker, and a movie is in the works about his life. (cnbc.com)

The biggest pizza ever created was 13,580 square feet, made in Rome, Italy, in 2012. The pizza was gluten-free and named “Ottavia” after a roman emperor. (guinnessworldrecords.com)

Just interesting factoids:

The original name for the search engine Google was Backrub. It was renamed Google after the googol, which is the number one followed by 100 zeros. (about.google)
Miss Piggy and Yoda were both voiced by the same person, puppeteer Frank Oz. (en.wikipedia.org)
There is not one letter “q” in any US state name, the only letter in the alphabet to be missing. “J” and “z” are only represented once each, in New Jersey and Arizona. (www.rd.com)
The word “strengths” is the longest word in the English language with only one vowel. (guinnessworldrecords.com)

At Medieval Times dinner attractions, you eat with your hands because people didn’t use utensils in the middle ages. (medievaltimes.com)

The tradition of shaking hands harkens back to Medieval Times and shows we’re unarmed. (bbc.co.uk)

The longest place name in the word, at 85 letters, is in New Zealand, but the locals just call it Taumata Hill. Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu (newzealand.com)

Our modern interpretation of Santa Claus with a red outfit and white beard is due in large part to holiday Coca-Cola ads that began in 1931. (coca-cola.com) 

Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, wasn’t the first to introduce Christmas trees to Britain from his native Germany. Queen Charlotte did that in the late 1700s. But, Victoria and Albert are credited with popularizing the custom in the mid-1800s. (royal.uk)
The teddy bear is named after President Theodore Roosevelt. After he refused to shoot a captured black bear on a hunt, a stuffed-animal maker decided to create a bear and name it after the president. (nps.gov) 

Lincoln Logs were created by John Lloyd Wright, son of famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, in the 1920s. They were named after Abraham Lincoln, who grew up in a log cabin. (nps.gov) 

Play-Doh started out as a wallpaper cleaner before the head of the struggling company realized the non-toxic material made a good modelling clay for children and rebranded it. (museumofplay.org) 

In the 1940s, a retired schoolteacher came up with Candyland to entertain children who were hospitalized from polio because its colour system required no reading, making it easily played. (toyhalloffame.org) 

The Barbie doll’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts, from Willows, Wisconsin. Her birthday is March 9, 1959, when she was first displayed at the New York Toy Fair. (barbiemedia.com)
Freelancers originally referred to self-employed, sword-wielding mercenaries: literally “free lancers.” (merriam-webster.com)

Facts that truly out of this world:

The first footprints on the moon will remain there for a million years. (nasa.gov) 

Days on Venus are longer than years. Due to its slow axis rotation, it takes 243 Earth days to spin once; but it only takes 225 Earth days to go around the sun. (nasa.gov) 

Humans could never “land” on Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus or Neptune because they are made of gas and have no solid surface. (natgeokids.com) 

You could ice skate on one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, which is covered in ice. An Axel jump would take you 22 feet in the air! (nasa.gov)

From around the world:

The coldest temperature ever recorded occurred in Antarctica, -144F or -97.78C, as reported by researchers in a scientific journal in 2018. 

The hottest temperature ever recorded occurred in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California, at 134F or 56.67C on July 10, 1913. (public.wmo.int) 

Japan records the most earthquakes of any country in the world, but the most earthquakes actually happening occurs in Indonesia. (usgs.gov)
Each year 16 million thunderstorms happen around the world, and at any given moment, there are about 2,000 thunderstorms in progress. (nssl.noaa.gov) 

Sweden has 267,570 islands, the most of any country in the world. 

Australia contains a number of pink lakes, but the most stunning is the Pepto Bismol-colored Lake Hillier. The colour may be the result of certain algae. (australia.com) 

At over 29,000 feet tall, Mt. Everest is the highest point on Earth, but it doesn’t compare to the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench, which is over 36,000 feet deep (nearly seven miles) or 10.97 km, in the Pacific Ocean. In addition, there are over 200 dead bodies of climbers on Mt. Everest because it’s so difficult to bring them down. (outsideonline.com)

Visitors are not allowed to scatter loved ones’ ashes at Disney World or Disneyland. This is apparently a problem, particularly around the Haunted Mansion attraction. (wsj.com)
The man who designed the Pringles can, Fred Bauer, is buried in one—or at least some of his ashes are. (npr.org)

And, as a final thought:

There’s a world record for the holder of the most world records ... Ashrita Furman has set more than 600 records and currently holds more than 200. His records have ranged from fastest mile on a pogo stick, longest time to hula hoop underwater and greatest distance traveled on a bicycle balancing a milk bottle on your head. (guinnessworldrecords.com)