Rediscover the Art of Adventure

2010-12-16T02:36:00.000-08:00

I've lived in North Vancouver for 6 years now. And for the last 5 years I've been running most days at lunch with a group of friends who work at a large company near my house. We run all over the North Vancouver area Monday-Friday. These guys are good people and talented runners.

The areas we run are through some of the more commercial/industrial areas and along some of the greenbelts and local creeks. This is also the place where a lot of the local homeless bottle collectors hang out.

They usually acknowledge us as we pass by. Sometimes there are two of us, sometimes there are eight of us. Their numbers vary in a similar fashion. They are often either pushing a shopping cart along with returnable bottles and cans or sitting next to one of the local creeks, MaKay, or Mosquito drinking and smoking.

One guy in particular ALWAYS shouts at us, "Lift those knees, in through the nose, out through the mouth". He's our defacto coach and we always share a laugh after passing him and his crew.

A local film maker is an ex-snowboarding film specialist who found himself in a wheelchair after a car accident. He was inspired and touched by these guys, who bomb some of the huge hills riding their shopping carts in a exuberant flights of fancy. They can hit 70kph while negotiating turns, traffic and pedestrians.

In any case, I'd heard about the movie, Carts of Darkness when it came out. Never saw anything more than a clip or teaser, however.

Until tonight.

Carts of Darkness - The movie - Note: May only be viewable in Canada.

Short clip from director/producer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JHYt7n58E Viewable from anywhere.

Watched it straight through. I know all the places well. A segment is even shot 100 meters from my front door.

Interesting to open a doorway to another world that is overlapping with my own. Coexistence is a trippy thing. Next time I see my coaches, I'll be looking a little bit closer at them.

Pura Vida - What is REALLY Important?

2010-12-15T00:33:00.000-08:00

According to the BBC news, there’s usually only one country in the developing world to score at the top of the Happiness Index.

And that country is…..drum roll please…..Costa Rica. (Maybe the “Pura Vida” or “Pure Life” gave it away if you know your Central American trivia.)

Costa Rica ranked #1 out of 143 countries on the Happy Planet Index, with the highest life satisfaction of anywhere in the world.

Turtle Island Dive Trip

There’re several countries in Central America that on the surface seem similar to Costa Rica. Many have similar lakes and volcanoes, beaches and tropical rain forests. Nicaragua has a similar number of people as Costa Rica, about 5 million. So why is Costa Rica the only one to score highly on the Happiness Index?

Even Costa Rican dogs are in on the happiness thing!

A clue may be found in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index, published by Yale and Columbia Universities. Costa Rica ranked #3 out of 163 different countries. Only Switzerland and Iceland came in higher. The United States ranked #61.

The Environmental Performance Index looks at environmental public health and ecosystem vitality.

Is Costa Rica perfect? No. But consider that:

Costa Rica has gone against the trend of losing forests.
50% of its land is now covered in trees, vs. 20% in the 1980’s.
Over 90% of Costa Rica’s energy supply comes from renewable sources.
Costa Rica is home to more than 1,000 species of orchids and 850 species of birds.

But it goes deeper than the physical environment:

Costa Rica has no army; it was abolished in 1949. The government has poured money into books instead of bullets.
The literacy rate in Costa Rica is 94.9%, one of the highest in the world.
Costa Rica is the only Latin American country included in the list of the world’s 22 older democracies.
With a per capita GDP a fraction of the United States, Costa Rica’s health care system is ranked higher.
Costa Rica is cited by the United Nations Development Program as one of the countries that has attained much higher human development than other countries at the same income levels.

How many places in the world feature real estate signs like this?

Many analysts attribute Costa Rica’s happiness to its numerous social and educational programs and strong social networks.

So is it a coincidence that Costa Rica consistently ranks near the top of both the Environmental Index and the Happiness Index?

Considering their land is similar to the land of other countries in the region, Costa Rica is doing something with their environment, both physical and social, that is creating the difference.
So what are the factors that make a difference in one’s environment?

In applying this model to the business world, what are the ways a company can change their environment in order to stand out from the competition the way Costa Rica stands out in the region?

Does changing communication within a company change its environment? How about effective feedback? What about time management and leadership skills?

CET has been exploring these issues with businesses across Canada and the United States; bringing high energy, interactive and engaging programs to the corporate workplace.

We all interact with and influence the environment around us, consciously or not. So what are some of the ways you can impact and influence your environment in order to create the results you desire?

At the end of the day, aren’t we all striving for “the good life,” however we define it? Pura Vida has been associated with a country but it’s really a state of mind.

In a business or organization, you could translate this into an 'engagement index'. Are people happy at work? If so, you are probably creating a great environment for them.

If not...... well, we can help you with that!

2010-11-16T23:34:00.000-08:00

A Brilliant Way to Raise an Organization's Profile - And You Can Do It, Too!

What is the primary struggle for a non-profit organization?

Raising money.

With a very limited budget (and a great sense of fun) you can make a HUGE impact on how many people know about your organization. It takes a very creative approach, however - and a modest degree of risk.

Here are a couple prime examples of organizations that have successfully undertaken just such fresh and effective approaches using the power of viral videos. I'm betting these videos have made a huge difference in their pocketbooks.

Case Study #1 - Big Cat Rescue

www.bigcatrescue.org

Big Cat Rescue, a non profit educational sanctuary, is devoted to rescuing and providing a permanent home for exotic (i.e. wild, not domestic) cats who have been abused, abandoned, bred to be pets, retired from performing acts, or saved from being slaughtered for fur coats, and to educating the public about these animals and the issues facing them in captivity and in the wild.

Combine the timely influence of a holiday, like Halloween, and the interesting juxtaposition of huge orange squashes and huge orange cats and you've got a winner. Check out the view count of the video below. Watch the cats play and appreciate another species undergoing a great, simple Adventure of their own.

Big Cats Play With Pumpkins - VIDEO

Look at how many people 'like' Big Cat Rescue on their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Big-Cat-Rescue-Tampa

What are the key elements that make this video a success?

A simple concept - kitties'n'punkins
Catchy editing - no malingering - cut down your footage to the minimum adequate for telling a story
Good musical score - watch the copyright issues
A reason to share - we all know how many people send around cute animal emails .....
An unusual set of circumstances - tons of pumpkins donated and a collecting of awesome critters

I'm willing to go out on a pumpkin adorned limb and say that the success of their videos has been a fundraising bonanza. In fact, if you liked them and support the cause consider sending a little donation their way. Better yet, ask your company to sponsor them.

Can any organization do this?

Yes, with the right approach (hint: it has nothing to do with hiring a PR company). Given a little bit of latitude, your people are the best way forward. Just give them the ball.

The best way I know to kickstart this process in your group is Corporate Explorer Training's Outstanding Performance Art Program. This is a dynamic and creative program that takes people through a a step by step process of how to create extraordinary results - just like Big Cat Rescue has done.

Case Study #2 - Opera Company of Philadelphia

www.operaphila.org

Formed in 1975, the Opera Company of Philadelphia has always been and remains committed to delivering outstanding productions of traditional and new repertoire.

Using a great sense of fun and an impressive scale, the Opera Company of Philadelphia has also seized on an intriguing holiday format for a video. It has garnered about a million views a week during the first two weeks it has been online.

With the crowded video market today, that is a noteworthy effort. And I'm sure their organization is reaping the rewards of attracting that much attention.

Success Factors:

Identifying a great location
Acquiring permission from Macy's to use the location
Selecting a proven popular song
Recruiting from other chorus organizations to help out
NOT making the video overly professional (and thus lifeless - less real, that is)

A giant pipe organ, 650 singers and an unsuspecting public make for a great spectacle - one worth sharing, for certain. Here is the video as an embedded YouTube video.

Here is another video of theirs that most likely showed them the potential of this type of approach. The scale is much more modest - 30 players vs. 650. But the concept remains the same. VERY successful Philadelphia Opera Video Watch this one, too, if you enjoyed the first one.

I love finding little gems like these. They prove my hypothesis that a little fun, Adventure and risk when employed in a positive and creative way can pay huge dividends.

So if you are in Philadelphia, patronize this opera. With photos like this on their site highlighting images from one of their productions, I'm guessing their offerings are as entertaining as their publicity!

So, think this approach has raised their profile? Certainly. Helped them fundraise? Absolutely. There is money in fun. I'd love to help you discover this for yourself!

2010-11-10T01:53:00.000-08:00

Employee DIS-engagement

Imagine working for a large company for 30 years and STILL feeling like that company does not trust you. Welcome to Air Canada, where customers AND employees don't feel valued.

What would that feel like? Pretty bad.

I'm sitting at a gate in the Calgary airport waiting for an Air Canada flight. I fly a lot - as in for the last 3 months I've been on a plane an average of 4 times a week. I belong to every frequent flyer program out there - and some I like more than others.

Right now, I'm ready to scratch Air Canada off the list of preferred airlines. Here's why: they care more about rules than people. How sad and backward. Rules don't purchase tickets from them or consume their product (flight), people do.

My story started as I arrived at the airport after spending the day in Calgary working with a large software company on helping their people become better communicators. Upon my arrival at the check in counter, I'm given a concerned look. The airport is practically empty - there are no other customers in sight. The ticket I have is for the next day.

Communication Training Earlier in the Day

There are seats available on the flight, but my ticket isn't for this flight. The agent sends me down to the other end of the airport to the Air Canada ticket purchase counter. I grab my bags and head down to see what my fate will be.

Upon my arrival, I describe my situation. My 11 year old daughter is in Los Angeles awaiting my return so we can return to the Northwest together the following day. I can't wait to take the flight the next day. The gate agent, a somewhat serious woman who appears to be in her late 50's shakes her head at me.

She tells me that I will have to pay a $50 change fee and the difference in fare - based on buying a ticket right at that moment. I wince and await the news. In addition to the fare I've already paid, I will have to pay another $427 in fees to get on the plane.

This is my cue to appeal for leniency. Fat chance.

The fact that I am a heavy frequent flyer has no bearing on the decision.

The fact that there are available seats on the flight is irrelevant.

At this point, there is nothing in the Air Canada customer service manual that allows their agents to make a judgement call to handle a situation like this.

I ask if perhaps they could waive the fees. My dour faced agent, Pat, informs me, "I've worked here for 30 years, if I get audited, I could get in big trouble."

I express my concern for her and let her know I understand her position. She continues, "After working here for 30 years, Air Canada still doesn't trust me to make discretionary decisions like waiving fees when I feel it is appropriate."

Wow.

She offers that I can call the Air Canada customer service line to see if I can get any better result. She won't let me use their phone, however. I use my cell and quickly learn that there are extended wait times on hold and I don't have the time to spare. Dead end.

Nice.

In an age where great companies are all trying to ensure their employees are 'engaged', Air Canada appears to be doing just the opposite. Worse still, they appear to be more concerned with observing customer-unfriendly rules than looking after valuable customers. How long will their business last as they alienate both customers and employees?

Here is a web site collecting other (far worse) horror stories: http://whyaircanadasucks.com/

Apparently, Covey's first rule of highly effective people, 'Be Proactive', is not in play. Air Canada doesn't appear to have handled the problems people have expressed on the site. Customer's dissatisfaction is something airlines should be doing their best to address.

United Airlines had a customer service debacle with a guitar that had been crushed in transit. After getting no satisfaction or relief from United, the guitar owner, a songwriter, posted a video that skewered the UA service. It has close to 10 million views. Here is that video.

Do you think that had an effect on the public's perception of United? You bet.

In my situation, I felt like Air Canada was taking advantage of me by essentially tripling the cost of my flight, which basically just meant one otherwise unoccupied seat was occupied. Better still, they had another 24 hours to sell the seat I would NOT be occupying the following day.

I would love to work with the executive team at Air Canada to give them the vision and direction to create meaningful customer relationships - relationships that would turn into long lasting relationships. People like doing business with companies that care.

Call me, AC! I'd be happy to give you a free consultation.

If you feel inclined to waive the fees I just got dinged for, I may be inclined to continue flying AC in the future. In the meantime, I'll be looking to Westjet to get me from YVR to YYZ in two weeks time.

This is the end of the conversation I had with Pat, who would have liked to have provided better service. You can hear in the tone of her voice how disempowered she is.

Right now Air Canada's chances of survival are directly proportional to the amount that their customers feel like they are cared for.

Let's see what the future holds.

2010-07-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

Self-Murdering Airlines – Dinosaur's Industrial Suicide

When your front line people (agents, attendants, etc.) are forced to adopt the role of a ‘heavy’ it spells disaster for your business’s future.

More and more it seems that the big (dinosaur) carriers are creating an adversarial relationship with their passengers.

MEMO: Hey UNITED AIRLINES!!

(For now), I’m your CUSTOMER - not your ENEMY!

Let me start off by sharing that I ought to be treated like an airline’s best friend. I travel a lot. And when I say a lot, I mean it. For example, in the past 25 days I’ve been on the following flights.

1. Vancouver to Edmonton
2. Edmonton to Vancouver
3. Vancouver to Seattle
4. Seattle to San Francisco
5. San Francisco to Vancouver
6. Vancouver to Toronto
7. Toronto to Vancouver
8. Vancouver to Seattle
9. Seattle to Houston
10. Houston to Ft. Lauderdale
11. Ft. Lauderdale to Houston
12. Houston to Calgary
13. Calgary to Vancouver
14. Vancouver to Seattle
15. Seattle to Washington
16. Washington to San Juan
17. San Juan to Chicago
18. Chicago to Vancouver

At this point, I have no allegiance to a particular airline; in fact I belong to pretty much every Frequent Flyer program ever created. I shop for fares based on price and convenience first – then brand second. The fact that I don’t have a particular loyalty might indicate that I’d be worth creating a great relationship with, right? I am exactly the type of customer I’d expect airlines to woo. You might expect that airlines would do their best to secure my continued business.
But does that happen? Not by any stretch.

Why is it I feel like the whole flying experience these days is an adversarial experience?
Airplane travel used to be a glamorous and classy experience. Nowadays, the process is burdened with inconvenience, ridiculous rituals, line-after-line and officious scrutiny.
I’ve taken a half dozen United flights this month, for example. So I can offer these following experiences as evidence of how I feel like I’m on hostile territory when I’m ‘Flying the Friendly Skies’:

• Getting an early boarding pass printed online is now a minefield of pre-filled ordering screens with one purpose: to milk customers for more money for things like trip insurance, extra leg room in their ‘Economy Plus’ section, meal options and baggage ($23 for one bag on a one way trip, but a whopping $2 cheaper than if you pay at check in!) The screens are evidently designed to be confusing and I’m sure many travelers suddenly find themselves paying much more for a trip than they originally planned without any clue as to why.

• It is stressful dealing with the check in staff, who are rigorous when it comes to weighing baggage and ensuring that you are not trying to carry anything more than your one bag – that must fit into the designated space – and your one personal item.

• Gate agents denying requests for exit aisles where there is a bit more space so writing on a laptop (as I’m doing while I write this) with a curt, “there is an extra charge for that”. I ask if I’m a valued customer and therefore worth going the extra mile for? “I cannot. It is airline. Not me.” United makes their gate agents and flight attendants police the ‘Economy Plus’ section – even when flights are nearly empty. “If we let people move, then the (poor sods) that actually paid for the extra space feel stupid because they paid the extra money.”

• The most crucial ambassadors of the airline – the flight attendants – have the affect of jaded gladiators. “I’ll have to check that bag – all our overhead bins are full.” Gee, you think people being asked to pay for checked bags has something to do with that?

• On this flight, I tried to buy one of their ‘snack boxes’. They were mentioned by the purser at the start of the flight. I picked the ‘Eat for Good’ option, which sounded like the best choice. “I’m sorry we don’t have that one available.” Really? You tell us to select a box from your United Hemispheres magazine, then we can’t even buy the choice once we’ve made it? Is it any wonder their business model isn’t working out so well? Simple things like this make a huge difference to the customer (in this case, ME!) Small details win loyal customers – or turn people’s opinions negative.

• I’ve been dealing with anachronistic entertainment systems on every United airplane I’ve been on this month. Either the system is not working, or I’m seeing the same tired entertainment offered on EVERY flight. How many times do you think I’m interested in seeing the same episode of 30 Rock? This especially rubs me the wrong way when the passenger disembarking from the Jet Blue flight is commenting about how great it was to watch the World Cup game USA vs. Algeria LIVE on his plane. Yet another game I’ve missed, darn it!

• Departing on this flight, because I had some flexibility with time – and I was sorry to be missing the World Cup game that was starting at the same time, I volunteered to accept a bump since they had overbooked the flight. I did this an hour and a half before the flight was to depart. When they (inevitably) asked for volunteers, I was the first person to bring up my boarding pass. I appreciate the flight voucher, the option to watch the World Cup Game – and was in no hurry at all. After myself, a couple others volunteered. Just before the flight, I was told they didn’t need me as a volunteer – they were taking four other volunteers who had come up AFTER I had volunteered.

I was a little put off as the flight had been completely boarded by this point and I was not likely to have any overhead compartment space for my carry on. Imagine my surprise when I get to my seat and find a whole row of three seats that are empty. The agent who had denied me the option to volunteer to be bumped walked the aisle of the plane counting passengers. When he got to my seat, he asked if anyone was seated next to me. “Ahhh. No.” At this point, he could have boarded the group two extra people, but chose not to.

Home again!

The Sad State of United

Really? United, can’t you do any better than this?
Bypass the common convention of allowing the first volunteer the courtesy of being granted the bump?
Check.

Miscount the number of passengers on the plane?
Check.

Fail to rectify the situation when mistake is discovered?
Check.

Piss off a great customer?
Checkmate.

And yet, even while all the dinosaur, ‘established’ airlines are struggling to survive, new airlines with different corporate cultures are succeeding – Virgin, Jet Blue, Westjet, Southwest. Each of these airlines has an inherently unique and vibrant corporate culture. They create devoted customers who are loyal and constantly evangelizing about their experiences. They offer modern communication systems – planes with WORKING entertainment systems. They make air travel FUN in some ways the companies like United Airlines never do.

Airline travel should be a positive Adventure – not a trial for a survivalist.

Small Details Elevate Experiences to the Extraordinary Realm

2010-05-04T03:38:00.000-07:00

Often, the little things make all the difference.

This is a story about a stone.

Oddly after everything we went through, it is one of the main things that stuck out in my mind. Take note: there is an important lesson to be learned here ... and it centers around a simple stone.

We'll get to it a bit later. First, I want to set the context by telling you about my trip.

It was a boy's weekend to celebrate my friend Dan's birthday. We headed out of town to spend time seeking Adventure - and we found what we were looking for.

We began by stacking up Dan's van with all the gear we could possibly need - inline skates, longboard skateboards, helmets, skis, snowshoes and other assorted manly-items.

Toys? Check.

On our way up to the Pemberton area, we took the opportunity to check out Nairn Falls since we were passing by. For a completely undeveloped attraction, I was deeply impressed. These falls are unique and powerful. We scampered around rocks and generally gallivanted around the area.

If you ever drive past, jump out and do the 4 kilometers to the falls and back. It is well worth it.

Glorious stones everywhere, but not the one I mentioned at the start of this post. That came later.

Our idea was to find a remote hot spring and use that as our destination/reward after a little hike. There were a number of potential hot springs within an hour's drive of Pemberton. However, our intelligence gathering was not helpful. Information was contradictory and sometimes bizarre.

"Oh yeah, people live there year around. You'll have no trouble reaching the springs."

"No, the road has been washed out by a landslide and access is closed." !!??

"I thought those springs had been declared a biohazard."

We decided to try our luck as the afternoon was getting later and we wanted to bag at least one decent hot spring before the end of the day. 70 kilometers later and 40 kilometers down a rough fireroad, our progress was abruptly halted.

We'd seen one other vehicle coming the other way, a four wheel drive truck that had tried to find the hot springs, but ended up getting stuck. The couple told us we'd have the place to ourselves - IF we were prepared for a huge hike.

Perfect.

Shortly after, we found the end of the (drivable) road.

We parked the van and began hiking around 5:30PM - not the ideal time to head out into the wilderness to find a remote, obscure, undeveloped hot spring. But, dang it, it was a birthday weekend and we were not going to be denied - even if we had no clue where we were going.

It was raining lightly when we saw three sets of headlights coming the other way. With no possible car access, they must be snowmobiles. Yup.

We waved at them to stop. I think they were shocked to find Dan and I slogging along in the opposite direction - away from civilization. We wanted to know if we were headed in the right direction. After a series of circumspect answers they revealed that they knew of the place we were seeking, Keyhole Hot Springs. Jackpot.

They let us know we might find it, but told us it was FAR too long a distance to cover on that day. Just the kind of challenge we like - and now we had enough direction to stay the course.

Onward!!

We followed the trail, which ran alongside the Lillooet River intermittently. The snow was wet and inconsistent and energy-draining, but beautiful. Darkness was approaching. Dan told me he had a little flashlight, so we carried on.

The scenery was sublime and we were pretty sure VERY few other people had been in the area since winter had set in.

Our snowmobiling saviors had warned us about the scramble down to the hot springs. "It drops 600 feet in about 50 feet." Though the path was not marked, we sniffed it out and as darkness began to take hold, we navigated downwards until we were on the riverbank. It had taken us 2.5 hours to cover the 12km.

We had made it. We were happy (non)campers. The only trick left was sniffing out the actual hot springs.

Discovering a remote hot spring is like finding a hidden treasure. Keyhole Hot Springs is nestled into the side of a very steep stone embankment; several hand made stone tubs cascade down to shore of the Lillooet river.

Stunning.

I couldn't wait to strip down and soak!

Believe it or not, this is STILL not the stone that made such a big difference to me on this trip. We'll get to that shortly.

There is something about earning a soak in a hot springs after a brutal and uncertain trip. Though cameras tend to steam up in the rising mist - and the darkness doesn't help either - the satisfaction shows through.

We just had to make our escape up the cliff-like embankment to the road BEFORE it was pitch black. The trail was far too rough and wild to navigate in the dark.

Two hours and twenty minutes later we were within one kilometer of our vehicle when we saw two headlights coming the other way. It was 11:30PM, raining and dark. What on earth?

It was two of our snowmobiling pals. They had been tossing and turning in their sleeping bags worrying about us. Thinking we might have bitten off more than we were prepared to chew, they had decided to venture out and rescue us!

They were shocked to find out we had actually made it to the hot springs and managed to have a little soak before marching right back. We had covered almost 24 kilometers in the snow.

Thinking it would be downright uncivilized to refuse their hospitality, we sheepishly accepted a ride back the final half a click to Dan's van.

Ironically, the side by side, standing two-up snowmobile ride felt like the most dangerous part of the whole trip - especially as they skidded and sparked across the occasional patches of dirt and rock!

These still are not the stones that impressed me, however.

It was the first 'rescue' for both Dan and I. Somehow it is heartening to know that people DO care about each other. We thanked our snowmobiling friends and saw them back to their tent, which had a full-on iron, wood-burning stove inside of it!

We made it back to Whistler by around 2AM.

For the latter part of April, the conditions were amazing. There was a good bit of new snow that kept things interesting. Dan and I just played all day long.

We also had the opportunity to do something rare and unusual. It was ski-demo day on top of Whistler. Since skis are a relatively high-ticket item, buying them is serious business. Woes to the person who buys a ski that is not quite right. There is no going back. You've just spent your 800 bucks; good luck returning used skis.

Sales staff at even the best sporting good stores are unlikely to have direct experience with even a small fraction of the skis in their inventory. Ski technology has been changing and there are more designs than ever before - each one unique and different. How do you pick a pair? Price? Color? Brand?

It is frustrating to try and pick a suitable ski without actually trying them out. You can test drive a car before dropping a wad of cash on new wheels. Why not skis?

Enter the wonderful institution of Demo Days!

There were perhaps 15 different manufacturers set up at the top of the Whistler gondola. All we had to do was flash ID and leave a credit card to try out the latest, greatest mountain hardware. Dan and I jumped right and got a set of wide reverse camber boards.

After a few runs, we'd swap to another brand and model. By lunchtime, we had tried four different sets of skis. It was informative and fun. This is the way everyone should be able to pick out skis.

But to me, there was something even more interesting on display at the top of Whistler that day. Each ski manufacturer had a chance to interact with a large number of potential clients. Some made the most of the opportunity. Others did not.

Some companies had technicians manning their tents whose mission was simply to get bindings adjusted for each client. The customer interaction was polite, but perfunctory.

The Rossignol guys were competent and fast. But they were focused on the mechanics of their operation, which did not include any relationship building or follow up. Opportunity lost.

Armada & Prior, smaller ski companies with unique products, both seemed a bit undermanned for the event. It was a whirlwind just getting skis and returning them. I had no sense of what the companies stood for, or the distinctions between their various products. Pity, especially for a small company.

I took a chance on the last set of skis I tried out. A Swiss-made boutique company called Heidi Skis was one of the last tents still letting skis go out. When others had begun breaking down their tents - eager to get back down the mountain, Heidi Skis was still letting people demo their products.

Their technician was very accommodating. In fact, they were the only company that adjusted the skis directly to my boots while I was wearing them. They wanted to know what kind of skiing I did so they could recommend a suitable model. Already, they had formed a relationship with me by showing interest in what I wanted.

Their skis, I'm happy to support, were a pleasure to use.

But, the best part was yet to come.

When I returned the Heidi Skis boards, I was asked about my impressions of the ski. And they listened to me: one of their potential customers.

How often do companies get feedback from people outside their organization about what people think of their products? This kind of feedback is vital.

But my Heidi Skis experience got better.

Though they are a small company with limited personnel, they had their sales manager on site. He approached me to give me some information about their company. Also, he let me know they had a special deal on the skis I had tried and how I could take advantage of their season-end pricing. No other company had given me any information about their products at all.

This was odd considering they were fishing in target rich waters. Their customers were literally swarming, but they were not forming relationships or SELLING their products at all.

The sales manager then distinguished Heidi Skis further; he handed me a small Toblerone chocolate bar (from Switzerland, like them, he explained) and a small leather pouch containing THE STONE. In the pouch was a small wet stone for sharpening knives. This was totally unexpected and separated them from every other company I'd interacted with up to that point.

Do you think they made a positive impression? You bet.

How much did it cost Heidi Skis to provide this service to me? Maybe a quarter for the chocolate and a buck or two for the stone.

Worth it?

Absolutely. Heidi Skis went from a company I'd never even heard of, to one I will use as a reference for extraordinary service repeatedly.

That small stone made a huge impact.

The video below shows me chasing Dan down the very amusing skiercross course on Blackcomb.

A Massive Disconnect – Why Toronto’s Pearson International Airport is on My Blacklist

2010-04-19T18:39:00.000-07:00

At the root of the matter: organizations should educate, incentivize and inspire their front line staff …. Or suffer the consequences.

It is unlikely that I will have warm fuzzy feelings flying into Toronto’s airport (and by extension the City of Toronto) again in the near future.

The rub is that the root cause for my feelings came from interactions with people who probably have no idea of the impact their actions have – or how far reaching they are.

They ought to know better, but they don’t. Probably, they’ve never received even cursory training in public relations – despite their front row positions.

Sorry, Toronto.

The world is not always fair.

Before I get into my experiences at Pearson International, let me give you some context.

It is ironic that the people who matter most working inside a given company are paid the least. I’m talking about the employees who are responsible for the face to face communication on behalf of their organizations.

These are the bank tellers, wait staff, attendants and agents who act as the front line, the crucial public façade that actually interacts with the public. And for most of these organizations, these people are underappreciated, improperly trained and completely unaware of their heavyweight effect on the public’s perception of their company or organization.

It is not like this for every company – just most of them. There are exceptions, of course. Southwest Airlines for example, is a company where nearly every employee has recognized and embraced the company’s cheery, efficient and experience-driven customer service approach.

Enterprise, the car rental service is also a standout when it comes to service – employees often have a stake, ownership in the business. This generates another level of care and diligence.

So should Pearson be doing something different? The answer is an emphatic YES!

YYZ (the three letter code for Toronto’s airport) could learn something from Southwest Airlines. They could also learn something from Enterprise Car Rental; employees have a stake in the business and despite their (often) second tier locations at airports, I have experienced great customer service in the past. They go above and beyond what is expected.

In the Toronto airport, I experienced in rapid succession three glaring instances where staff at the airport left much to be desired. I met three surly and combative people in the space of 15 minutes.

Here’s my story:

I came to Toronto to train a group of administrative workers in one of Ontario’s Ministries. The Ministry wanted me to improve the communication skills by putting their people through Corporate Explorer Training’s Cross Boundary Communication Module.

This necessitated a flight to YYZ and a subsequent departure.

Among other things, the particular training program I was delivering in Milton, Ontario is designed to emphasize the importance of building relationships inside and outside the work environment - and in particular the front line communication the Ministry might have with the general public. How we feel about our government is often a reflection of our experiences with the people who represent that government. And I’m not talking about politicians.

The people who handle your face-to-face business at offices maintained by your local government are the ones who PERSONIFY that organization. If you have a great experience renewing your driver’s license, you are likely to share that with others. If you have a nightmare of an experience dealing with this type of bureaucracy, you are SURE to share the experience with others.

Thus we judge our overall impression of a large organization or government by the interactions we have with their front line emissaries. These good folks are often at entry level positions without much prestige or control over the circumstances of their jobs.

When we have bad experiences dealing with an entity, like an airport, it colors our impression of that entity.

When I arrived at the airport, I needed to check in a bag. I’d completed check in online, so my seat was set; I just needed to drop my bag and get a boarding pass printed. The self-check in kiosk would not print a boarding pass for me. It asked me to join a line and talk to an agent. Fine.

After waiting through a line and watching multiple people drop off bags in front of me, it was my turn. The male agent asked me for my boarding pass. I explained that the kiosk had told me to talk to an agent and that it would not print my boarding pass.

At this point, the man actually, chastised me telling me I was in the wrong place and that I needed a boarding pass in hand to qualify for his service. He stood to the side in a gesture of dismissal and lifted his gaze to summon the person at the head of the line behind me.

Feeling both confused and slightly irritated at the brusque dismissal, I explained that the airlines own kiosk had referred me to talk with an agent. Wasn’t he an agent? He was providing passengers with service at an agent’s counter, after all.

Mr. Happy, the agent, impatiently told me I WOULD NOT be getting any service from him – apparently this included any hint that might have pointed me in the right direction where I COULD get service. Having been civil and friendly with this guy, I did not understand his attitude, reluctance to help – or, in fact, give me any useful information at all.

I travel a lot. I’ve been around the block. I know airports and their byzantine ways.

This guy was committed to dismissing the hapless passenger in front of him (me) as quickly as possible – despite the fact I had just been following instructions provided by a kiosk from his airline.

Rather than let the situation escalate, after a few fruitless rounds of back and forthing, I left. Eventually, I found another line where ‘service issues’ were handled. I got my boarding pass printed and successfully checked my bag for the flight by a cheerless agent.

I made a mental black mark in my head next to the file in my brain where I store airline information. This airline, too, was now tarnished by the illogical and unfriendly experience I just had. I could care less about the nice logo, the crisp uniforms, etc. If the person wearing the airline uniform does not provide good service, the entire airline’s goodwill is in jeopardy.

People remember personal interactions. Sorry Air Canada.

Since I was early, my next mission was to eat my Subway sandwich. I had to do this since the accompanying chocolate milk was likely to be seized as dangerous contraband in the security check stage of the airport dance. We live in strange days.

Between the security line and the check in area was one of the large seating areas that airports have where people sit while waiting for flights. This was a pretty large and empty area where about a half dozen restaurants surrounded the tables, benches and chairs.

I found a suitably empty spot, opened a newspaper and began to eat.

Then I met Winston.

Winston is employed to keep the seating area cleaned and the leftover trays and detritus bused. I had taken perhaps one bite of my sandwich when he made his presence known. He did this by informing me that I was NOT permitted to sit down in this empty area.

Confused, I asked him if he was serious.

“You wouldn’t bring Burger King to McDonalds would you?” he said.

Thinking back two days to our dinner with friends where we went to a spicy Korean restaurant with a takeout pizza in hand for our non-spicy food eating daughter, I replied, “actually, I would.”

Winston was not impressed. As I didn’t immediately jump up and flee, he sought out reinforcements from the guy behind the counter at the gourmet pizza place nearby. The man Winston talked to was having an animated discussion with him. I saw him looking at me to attract my attention giving me the sign to relax and remain seated.

I felt marginally better.

But Winston was not having any of it. Apparently, his reinforcements gambit might have backfired, but he was not to be dissuaded.

Again, he approached my table. I observed in a friendly way that his first name, Winston, was the same as my middle name. He was not impressed. “It don’t matter. You still have to leave.” He was resolute and seemed to be committed to standing directly over me until I made moves to depart.

Now, I should take a moment to explain that I am a big fan of what I’ll call common sense. If there is a rule in place, in some cases it makes sense to be flexible and allow transgression.

There was NO ONE in the area I was eating. The airport eating area was NOT busy. I was not disturbing anyone. There were no other seating areas anywhere to be seen.

Not wanting to be confrontational, and recognizing that Winston was likely an ill-trained employee in a low level job whose interpretation of his role included being hostile and unfriendly to interlopers, I left.

I ate the rest of my sandwich standing up balancing my chocolate milk on a railing in front of a photography collage.

Thanks for the visual distraction YYZ. It didn’t counteract the unwelcoming behavior Winston has shown me, but it served to distract me for a few minutes.

Security was next. Here, I’ve been through the whole ridiculous drill so many times, I figured it would be a breeze.

To keep things short, I’ll say that I usually travel with an empty water bottle. This allows me to fill it once I’m through security so I’ve actually got water of my own for the next 7 hours of travel.

We’ve all seen contraband Evian and sunscreen being seized from hapless travelers so I won’t question how taking a teenager’s spring break sunscreen is keeping us all safe.

My shoes were off. My jacket was in a tray – along with my cell phone, watch, change, etc. My laptop was in a separate tray. Everything should be smooth. The personal metal detector was a breeze – I got by with merely a stern look.

But my backpack was flagged. “Is this backpack yours?”

Ummmmmm. “Yes.”

My water bottle had a miniscule amount of unfinished water – literally drops of water – in the bottom. Security wanted to seize it. Now I am talking about an empty bottle with enough water in it to ALMOST wet your mouth, but no more.

Once more the attitude displayed by the security detail was that they were dealing with a dangerous individual who needed to be taught a lesson.

On my way to the gate, I shook my head. In 15 minutes I’d experienced three back to back instances where front line staff working at the airport had gone out of their way to impose bad customer service on a passenger who was simply trying to get home.

Thanks Toronto!

People recall bad service even more vividly than good service. I am sure I’m not the only person who had to run the gauntlet of surly service at YYZ.

I’m aware that the three separate individuals I encountered were all employees who worked for different employers. That doesn’t matter to me. It all went down at the airport, so I associate it with the airport.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Organizations with first class leadership instill in their staff an awareness that THEIR ACTIONS MATTER! Great organizations are fronted by employees who care and provide first class customer service.

The airline agent could have helped me and pointed me in the right direction.

Winston could have simply let me eat in peace.

Security could have let me pass with a smile and 5ml of water in the bottom of my bottle.

With some proactive training, employees can provide great service – but they have to know that what they do is IMPORTANT. Their roles, though perhaps not highly-paid, are arguably the most important roles when it comes to how the public perceives their employer’s organization.

Do you hear me Big Guys!? Get your people the training that will turn YOUR company into a top flight company.

It matters.

In this questionable business climate, you can’t afford negative impressions.

Fix this disconnect. Your people, especially the ones at the bottom of the org chart, are your most valuable asset. Invest in them and the public will embrace you.

Berzerkers, Braveheart & the Olympics - Vancouver 2010

2010-03-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

The Crucial Moment Determining Your Future - AND YOU CONTROL IT!

2010-02-04T11:24:00.000-08:00

Moments of Magic Happen for us Daily

Kerry Ward in Flores, Guatemala

Utila is a gem of an island. Or so I'm told.

We missed our boat.

Sometimes, despite my best efforts, I fail to make the connection I've been shooting for.

The next thing that happens after that is a crucial and Special Moment. Maybe the most important Moment in life.

I'll explain presently, because I'm sure you're curious. But first, a little background information

Is this unique geography or what?

My wife and I woke up, the only guests in a tiny border station hotel at the Guatemalan/Honduran border. The previous day, we had woken early in Lanquin to travel via a sucsession of local transports, truck, riverboat, small ocean ferry, local taxi and finally a colectivo bus that dropped us at the lonely border fence at the end of a dirt road. At this point, the only option as fas as my wife was concerned was to find lodging and food - preferably in that order.

After a dusty hike from the frontier line between Guatemala and Honduras this morning, we caught yet another 'cheekin boose', vernacular for Chicken Bus. (The general adoption of that term, probably from years of travel guides calling the colorful converted school buses that serve as public transit, just cracks me up.) These bus trips are usually fraught with stops and short diversions designed to maximize the probability of fitting 89 people onto a bus designed for 42 North American children. But on the whole, I feel like these bus rides get me in touch with the country and its people more than a flight or super duper tourist luxury bus would.

Ferry ride from Livingston to Puerto Barrios - we were packed in!

As a little hint about the important lesson I'm going to share later, consider this: what many travelers anticipate with dread, i.e. the 'cheekin boose' ride, I rather enjoy. The fact that the local transport is usually eighty percent cheaper is just bonus as far as I'm concerned.

The little van/truck in the front was our ride for the day.

So getting back to my story, after making several tight bus/mini-bus connections in dusty little cities across the northern Honduran coastline, we arrived in La Ceiba with not quite enough time to make it across town to the ferry terminal.

The unique spring-fed limestone pools at Semuc Chempey. Amazing.

But we had a savior. Our salvation came in the unlikely form of a maniacal 300 pound cue-ball-bald bull of a taxi driver. As a veteran traffic splitter with years of NYC and Los Angeles motorcycle driving under my belt, I can appreciated creative and agressive skilled driving. This guy took liberties with road rules that would make a pirate proud. Thank God he knew the dimensions of his car like they were a part of his body. We probably had two dozen ... I'll call them swoops ... past cars, trucks, bikes, pedestrians and dogs that left less than six inches of clearance while flying along the road in an effort to get to our ferry terminal on time. Sidewalks, oncoming lanes, bike path, you name it, he sliced and diced traffic like a SlapChop on wheels.

I just sat back with a huge grin and enjoyed the ride provided by this hulking master of the Honduran road. My wife was grimacing and shrieking in terror as we'd just miss taking out an innocent cyclist by millimeters.

Exploring a cave filled with water with only a candle was AWESOME! Even if I was blue with cold when I came out.

Upon our arrival at the terminal, my wife fled to see about getting tickets to Utila. I took the opportunity to thank (and generously tip) our driver, who I likened to a mad conductor at the helm of a cantankerous, but talented orchestra. He took my compliment with a big laugh.

What happened next was an unwelcome shock. We learned that our guidebook had been inaccurate in noting the departure time for Utila. Our boat had left the dock. Our ship had sailed.

We had a split second decision to make. Either languish unhappily in the charm-free town of La Ceiba and lose a day of our trip, or we could jump on the last ferry of the day to leave the port, which was going to Roatan.

Abandoning the careful plans we'd made during the prior week, we chose to jump on a different ship, altogether.

When the rays come in this close, diving is hardly necessary! Notice my foot at the bottom.

Roatan, here we come!

Now at this point, had I elected to dwell on the fact that our plans had to be abandoned, our day might have been spoiled. But something remarkably powerful happened, instead.

We embraced the moment and simply accepted our circumstances. Fulminating about the 'plans that should have been' would have put a dark cloud over our holiday.

Every time you make a choice about HOW you react to a given situation - especially when things begin to go sideways and plans are jeopardized, you face a Special Moment of your own. It is the moment you exert the most creative power possible - you literally determine the complexion of your own future.

Kerry Ward on the West End of Roatan a great alternative to Utila.

So why not make it a positive future? It is your choice.

In our case, we embraced our Roatan trip - even with the horrendously rough ferry trip - and didn't look back at what 'could have been'.

We'll save Utila for next time.

The following Quoted text puts it perfectly.

Attitude

By Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.
Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home.
The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

Seizing the Power of 'YES' - An epic weekend with my daughter

2009-08-25T01:34:00.000-07:00

Every summer my daughter, Indigo and I carve out some time and embark on an unusual and action packed Adventure. My wife prefers trips that are a little less gung ho and more .... comfortable shall I say... than what Indigo and I require to enjoy our trip.

This trip usually starts with a few prime examples of the magic word, 'YES'.

Would you like to visit a wild west mining town? YES!

Would you like to participate in a training featuring survival at sea? YES!

Would you like to jump off a cliff? YES!

Would you like to sleep in massive haunted 140 year old temple with no running water or electricity? HECK YES!

We started our odyssey when our friend Dan called to ask me if I wanted to do an open water canoe trip to Twin Islands up the Indian Arm of the Burrard Inlet. Could I bring Indigo?

"Sure we can tow her in my kayak if she'd like that." YES.

So off we went. It was about a 10 km round trip in the ocean. The water was tinged red as there was an algae bloom happening. Beautiful scenery all around.

Upon our arrival we tied up at the small dock and took a quick walking tour of the island - partaking liberally in the ripe huckleberries that abounded.

The little lighthouse marked the eastern side of the island. Indigo didn't fall for the monster story Dan concocted about the beast who lived inside it. On a gorgeous sunny day, that tiny lighthouse was certainly not intimidating in the least.

We ended up on top of the south cliff so we could stop for a snack and to scope out the 12 meter jump from the verge into the water below.

Dan an I both took a couple flying leaps as Indigo surveyed the situation. Eventually, after establishing that neither Dan or I had perished, she decided to take the plunge. After a couple balks, she leaped off. All nine years old of her. Gulp. I followed directly after to make sure she found the climb out section. That was a spectacular YES. (See the video embedded later for the full action. Though Dan, in his excitement at seeing her leap, forgot he was videoing the jump and pressed the shutter, effectively cutting the action right at the point of no return climax. Next time, we'll bring in the professionals.)

The photo above was taken by Indigo, who has her photographic chops together.

Click the embedded YouTube play button above to see the trip video I put together.

Early the next morning, Indigo and I headed across the US border to Anacortes, WA. I had been invited to take a survival at sea program called Castaways that was put on by Cap Sante International. It sounded like a unique opportunity - and Indigo was encouraged to join - so we said YES!

Class got underway in a 25 person life raft that had been inflated especially for the training. A cooler classroom there never was.

We were able to open the 'emergency' packages inside the raft. This amazing crazy survival suit thing was inside. I was the only person to actually try it on. Ravishing, YES?

We inspected the entire contents of the emergency kit - even eating some of the rations, which are fatty coconut flavored bars of 200 calories each. I could survive for a while on them, but I wouldn't really want to stock up on them at Costco if I knew I was going to have to eat them.

Pat at Cap Sante had arranged to have an Indigo-sized survival suit at our disposal for the training. This is what fisherman who find their boat sinking wear to survive when they leap into the frigid waters. In the warmth of the pool, they were downright toasty.

We formed floating rafts, swimming formations and practiced jumping and rolling over in these nifty suits. Indigo navigated the lineup to retrieve a floating noodle on the other side of the pool.

The next very cool thing we got to experience was chucking one of the fiberglass barrels that contain the life rafts you see on ferries and cruise boats into the water. YES! By yanking the cord, a compressed air valve is released and the whole thing inflates in a matter of seconds. (Check the video for this action.)
Each of us had to take turns righting a capsized life raft. Even Indigo had no problem with it due to her genetic makeup having a strong simian component.

Upon the conclusion of the Castaways program, Indigo and I drove directly to Idaho to connect with our friends Vern and Kim. In the morning we embarked on the 30 mile road into the mountains that lead to Silver City, an old mining town that has been preserved in a remarkable state.

Masses of Mormon crickets carpeted sections of the road as they infest parts of the mountains in this area during the summer. Indigo was mortified that we were running over them, but we had little choice as avoidance was impossible.

This building is a Masonic Temple Vern and Kim purchased to preserve that was built in the 1860's. Each year the Masons still use it for one special meeting. It is, naturally, haunted. YES!

This is the interior of the upper floor. The meeting room is incredibly interesting to behold. I don't think it has changed much for a LONG time.

The building itself sits astride a creek. It also has a ground level room that is just as big as the meeting room. Indigo and I had the place to ourselves - except for the ghosts who shared it with us.
We did sleep in grand style however - even if there was no electricity. A glow stick was all we needed. This is a very special place indeed. We are lucky to have friends like Vern and Kim.

One of Indigo's primary missions was to collect rocks and crystals as she is an avid collector of such shiny things. Vern knew just where to take us to find a tailing pile that had left a LOT of crystals in the detritus from the gold and sliver extraction operations.

The ATVs were a hit with Indigo, though a bit scary for her at first. By the end of the trip, she looked for any excuse to take them out.

Indigo shows off a solid gold nugget that Vern found in his explorations of the surrounding area. I can feel the gold fever coming on.... Indigo was thrilled to hold it. Same for the bottle of mercury that had come from the creek bed. Apparently, there was a massive mercury spill at one point and the mercury is still found after settling down to collect on the bedrock. Wild stuff that mercury, used in the extraction process to remove gold. Tasted terrible too. Could hardly drink a small bottle ;)

Indigo began to get some driving lessons and eventually was able to command a quad to do her bidding (as long as her father was sitting behind her with his foot hovering over the brake in case of emergency.)

The drugstore nextdoor to the Silver Slipper Saloon where Vern and Kim live looks like it has been untouched for many decades. Apparently, the town was abandoned and left as it was. Eventually, the folks who came back decided to make it a historical town and kept things the way they were. The shelves and drawers in this place contained a staggering assortment of wild things. Fascinating.

In a drawer I found these numbered order forms that had been left behind. They are OPIUM order forms. Imagine that.

The dentist's gear was all left in place. Looks like a great start to a prop department for a horror movie. Pull a tooth? NO. (there's one to go with the YES's)
We were invited to come down and feed the horses at a nearby ranch. Of course, we said YES!
Vern even looks the part with his handlebar mustache. Note the shirt's message: Guns Don't Kill People, People with Mustaches Kill People.

Welcome to Silver City!!
On an extended ATV excursion we were able to check out some of the abandoned mine tunnels. Again, thrilling stuff for Indigo and I.
There are some genuine rock hound prospectors that inhabit the surrounding environs. Naturally, Vern knows them all. What a cool experience to meet these guys and see what a modern day gold prospector operation looks like.
With a hot tip on where we might be most successful, we got down to business and put our to-that-point unused gold pan to use. We were able to capture some good little flakes, but it took a good bit of work. Didn't score any big nuggets like the $5000 chunk Vern discovered. Next time.
A view of the little town of Silver City from above.
It was a special day for the cattlemen that was being celebrated in Silver City one night while we were there. An extra dose of law enforcement RODE into town.
Back at our lodging I just had to take another picture of the incredible space.

Indigo popping into another mine opening to find the crystal crack that Vern had told us about. It was hot outside, but very cool in the mineshafts.
A piece of an old car in a pile of debris.
One of the abandoned structures in the area where the rock crusher was originally set up outside of town.

Our trip back to BC was done in one day after a great breakfast with our friends.

'YES' made a super cool long weekend for my daughter and I. I love having a little eager and bright companion to share things with like this. I look forward to next year's trip already.

105 1/2 Years of FullTilt Life! RIP Grandma

2009-08-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, my Grandmother Edel Terese Brown became the oldest person ever to come down Grouse Mountain on skis.
As a child growing up in Norway in the early 1900's she actually skied to school, so it was a treat to get her up on the mountain at the age of 105.

Grandma always had spirit. This showed up in many unusual ways.

In fact, she was notorious for moving heavy furniture - even as she entered her second century! Relatives would visit and find that Grandma had rearranged an ENTIRE ROOM BY HERSELF!

She remained independent even beyond the age of 100 - living on her own and taking an active interest in current events.

For the last couple ski seasons, I had been gently inquiring about whether she would be interested in going up Grouse Mountain to get out on the ski hills in a Sno-Limo. Last year, she wasn't really up for taking part since she wouldn't want to have too much attention focused on her. This was kind of silly, but she imagined comments like, "What is that old woman doing up here on the mountain?"

On January 2nd, we celebrated her 105th birthday. Apparently, it takes that long to outgrow the vanity that kept her from seizing the opportunity. This year, she was ready to go.

My 9 year old skiing companion and daughter, Indigo and I picked Grandma up on a beautiful sunny day and drove up to the Grouse Mountain Skyride parking lot. I unloaded our ski gear and Grandma's chair. The tram ride up was particularly interesting to Grandma who was peering out the window with great interest at the terrain as the trees gradually became covered with snow as we gained some 2500 feet in altitude on the way.

We disembarked at the top and brought Grandma out to the waiting crew from Sno-Limo. A crew from CTV with David Kincaid were on hand to film the occasion for the nightly newscast. As Grandma was getting situated in her chariot, I asked her if she was ready to do a little bit of skiing. At this point, I'm not sure she understood exactly what a Sno-Limo was. She replied, "I don't know my legs are a little tired today."

I assured her she would just have to sit back and enjoy the ride. The day couldn't have been more perfect.

The Sno-Limo is a pretty sophisticated device. Its design was inspired by some of the physically disabled skier technology that was adapted to give a great ride to a passive passenger. It was an ideal option for taking Grandma out on the ski runs.

Once we'd geared up, off we went. Grandma was merrily humming different tunes as she whizzed down the mountain. We stopped a couple times to see how she was doing. Grandma took everything in stride and was perfectly content to be flying towards the bottom of the hill on her ski-chair. The news crew, who were accompanying us riding several more Sno-Limos got footage as we glided down.

As it was such a gorgeous day, CTV summoned their helicopter to make the trip from the airport to swoop in and get some aerial footage. My daughter kept pace and accompanied Grandma up on the chairlift the first time we rode the high speed quad chair back up the mountain.

On our next trip down the steeper Olympic Chair side of the mountain, Grandma was concerned. "You know, we're going to have to walk back up this mountain," she told me in a low voice. "It might be hard for me."

I told her to relax and enjoy the ride down and everything would be taken care of.

That night, word of Grandma's travels had spread around the family and many people tuned into the nightly news to watch the story. In typical Grandma fashion, she took everything in stride. "What was the experience like?" the newscaster wanted to know.

"Well," said Grandma, "It was like going down a hill." The obvious and elegant answer. Vintage Grandma.

On August 1, 2009 Grandma passed away during the night. She had a stroke that had weakened her a couple days prior, so the news was not unexpected.

I had the honor of presiding at her graveside ceremony, a first for me. It was a unique and touching service that celebrated her life. My mother, Sheila Ward and her sister, Olga Campbell offered a beautiful portrait of Grandma's life to the assembled family and friends.

At the request of the massive extended family in Norway, a portrait of family members with the casket was taken. The Romsdal clan in Alta, Norway will be glad to see this picture. Grandma was 'living history' of their region and she followed the news in the area by reading the Altaposten newspaper regularly.

After the service, several people commented that the ceremony 'was not like a funeral at all!" It was a positive affirmation of Grandma and her life. Note the proliferation of bright colors in the photo above. The bright colors were requested as Grandma herself enjoyed colorful garb.

Due to a communications snafu, the pastor who was to deliver the prayer was not present. The Lord's prayer on this occasion was delivered by my sister, Laura Ward, outfitted in a hot pink dress and platforms. This was probably a first in the North Vancouver Cemetery, but perfectly apropos.

I feel very lucky to have shared the ski Adventure with my daughter and her great-grandmother earlier this year. Grandma was one constant in my life that will now be absent in physical form.

RIP Edel Terese Brown (nee Romsdal)

Goodbye Grandma.

Here’s the Crucial Secret to: How I Got a Free $2000 Sony Television – When 75 Other People Wanted the Same Thing

2009-07-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

If you want to know how I upgraded from this:

To this. Then read on.

I like Craigslist.

The brilliantly simple classifieds are a wealth of information. It is so effective in fact, that it may be responsible for putting print newspapers out of business. But then again – dinosaurs don’t live forever.

One intriguing section is the ‘Free’ section where people list things they want to unload in a hurry. There may be several reasons for this:

1. These are things that they can’t bear to throw away, but they don’t want to keep them.
2. They are too lazy to bring them to the charity donation center.
3. The items are so junky that they cannot be donated.
4. A move out date is rapidly approaching and their place needs to be cleared out.
5. It is time to flee the country and live a non-materialistic life.

Generally, the things that are listed do not have much value: old planters, used tires, construction debris, obsolete appliances, animal food leftover from a deceased pet. You get the picture.

On rare occasions, valuable items may be listed by someone just wanting to get rid of something. When this happens, it is like the internet version of a mad gold rush. Emails fly in and phones ring non-stop (if you are crazy enough to leave a number). Being first to the punch is often the deciding factor when this happens. Just be the lucky one who sees the ad seconds after it is posted and slam out an email saying, “Pick ME!”.

When I spotted an ad in the Craigslist Free section listing a perfectly functional Sony Wega 35 inch flat screen CRT television complete with purpose built stand, my interest was piqued. This TV retailed for about $2000 when new and has stellar picture capabilities. The ad was near the top of the page, which meant that it was a recent post – probably less than 15 minutes old.

That being said, the ad had been once edited already. It said, “over 50 people have already contacted me about this offer”. I smelled a challenge; and it would be exceedingly nice to replace the tiny old-school TV in our bedroom (whose remote control disappeared long ago). Our community had just upgraded to digital cable and we couldn’t really take advantage of this with the old TV. Boy that big beautiful set would be nice in the corner….

Considering there were already 50 people who had replied to the ad, what were my chances of actually getting the listing person to choose me as the person to give his valuable television to? Pretty damn good, as it turns out.

Craft Relationships With Care and You’ll Get the Deal

I put myself in the shoes of the guy who made the listing. Having to sort through that many replies can be burdensome; I wanted to make it easy for him to say yes to my offer.
This is the actual text from the email that I sent:

Greetings,

My family would LOVE to have a television like this.

I would love to be able to come and get this from you. In an effort to make it as easy as possible for you, I would be willing to come at exactly noon with a couple strong backs to remove it quickly and smoothly from your place.

I know how heavy those units are, so you don't have to worry about me showing up underprepared. I'll have all the muscle I need to get it out and I'm a very good mover of heavy large items, so it should be simple to do.

My goal is to make this as painless as possible for you if you'll let me collect it. I'll even bring over a nice bottle of wine for you as a thank you.

If another time ends up working better for you, just let me know and I'll accommodate you. I can even come by tonight if that works. Feel free to reply by phone or email.

I know you've gotten a huge response from this, so you might want to eliminate your ad, or you'll continue to get more. The way to do that is to click on the publishing link that craigslist sent you to post the ad.

Regards,

Kerry Ward (phone number)

Notice that I made it clear that I would be very easy to deal with. I knew the TV weighed around 200 pounds. In his listing he said he wanted it picked up at noon the next day and that he had a bad back, which would prevent him from helping in the process.

The total amount of time I took to write this email was just a few minutes. I pressed the ‘send’ button and promptly put it out of my mind. I was not attached to the outcome, but it would be nice to have an upgraded TV like that.

20 minutes later my phone rang. The conversation went something like this:

“Hello?”
“Hi I’m calling because you replied to my ad about the TV.”
(Surprised) “Oh yes, the Sony. That is a nice TV.”
“Do you still want it?”
“Yes, of course.” (Somewhat suspicious. Too good to be true?)
“Can you still come and get it tomorrow?”
“Yes. Is noon still good?” (Who can I call to assist me?)
“Okay then, you can come and get it tomorrow.”
“Will it be just me coming? Or will there be bunch of people coming and whoever collect it first gets it?”
“No just you. I’m letting you take it.”
“Oh, I see. I know you had a huge number of people contacting you.”
“Yes, I’ve gotten more than 75 emails now. Yours was the ONLY one that anyone actually put any time into. It showed me that you cared enough to do that, which I liked. The others were mostly one line, ‘I’ll take it.’”

The lesson here for me was that even that simple email I put together is MORE than what most people will do. I took the time to create a little mini-relationship in the email and that made my email stand out among the 75 others he got.

I was easy to deal with. He knew that I would be sensitive to HIS needs and that I appreciated what he was doing. I thought about him – rather than myself. And it paid off. It can for you, too.

When I picked up our new Sony Wega TV the following day, I followed through and gave him his bottle of wine.

The TV worked perfectly and has a beautiful picture, thank you very much.

The Ultimate Everything - Trust My Life to Someone I've Only Met Once? Sure!

2009-06-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

HELP!!!

When it comes to scaling a big obstacle, I admit it: I need help.

Because if you think about it, RELATIONSHIPS are the most important thing in our lives. This is true whether we are talking about business OR personal life. Professionally, without relationships we have no co-workers, no customers, no corporate client, contractors or vendors. You've got nothing. In personal life, some relationships MUST be present in order to survive - and especially to thrive.

In business, Adventure, or Adding-Ventures is essential to survival. Without new ventures (relationships), you'll find yourself isolated in a hurry.

I've always wanted to do an epic multi-pitch climb where I'm fully-committed once the trip up is underway. Imagine the feeling of climbing thousands of feet up a massive stone wall seeing the floor of the valley below dropping away. The Chief in Squamish, BC is a perfect edifice for this kind of thing.I have climbed up the Stawamus Chief's backside on several occasions, but never taken a route right up the face.

When my climbing buddy, Bill called me with the notion of tackling "The Ultimate Everything" route, I had to say 'yes' - even though I had only met Bill once before. In order to complete this climb, we would be relying on each other to literally hold the other's life in our hands.

So how did I decide that I could trust Bill? Simple, on the single other occasion we had met and climbed together I was able to deduce through various cues that he was an experienced climber. His climbing equipment was appropriate to the route and somewhat used (by him), which showed he had some experience. He took his climbing and safety seriously, but not too seriously. Bill was an adept climber. Best of all, he had experience climbing in the area - a big plus as I had little experience on that particular wall.

In business we make a similar series of assessments whenever we consider entering into a relationship with someone else. For example, how is the person dressed? Are they familiar with the industry vernacular? Do they know the market? How confident are they when they speak with you? Do you like them?

All of these questions are automatically answered subconsciously as you make the judgment on whether to do business - or not.

Should you tie yourself to the end of their rope and trust that they will be there if you NEED them?

When we arrived at the (usually crowded) parking lot at the base of the Apron, we were the only ones there. That is rare, indeed.

We got out and inventoried our gear calculated what we would need for our Adventure. Aside from a few snacks, some water and a couple personal items, all we had was our climbing gear. When you are climbing straight up a 2500 foot cliff, lightness can't be overrated.

As we prepared another car pulled up; actually, it was a VW bus affair, a popular ride for climbers out there. We hustled to depart the parking lot lest the new climbers happen to be attempting the same route as us. It wouldn't do to be in a lineup.

Rain was forecast for later in the day. This would be a disaster for this particular climb as the granite would likely be unclimbable wet. If the rain started earlier, which is always a possibility, we would have to improvise an ignominious and cold retreat.

Though it would take us perhaps an hour longer to take the classic Deidre line up the Apron, I wanted to grab it as there are usually several ropes at the bottom waiting to get on the rock. We had the whole thing to ourselves.

Immediately, we roped up, did a safety check and began climbing. Trading leads helped us with our speed. After anchoring at the belay station at the top of a pitch, the person cleaning the gear off the route would simply climb past, grabbing any extra gear that was deemed necessary and then lead the next pitch.
Each pitch was very different and the rock remained interesting and engaging the whole way up. The climbing itself was not particularly steep, but in some areas, there were few features to use to keep moving up. A mix of sport climbing and traditional climbing made for interesting leading the whole way up.
Bill at a belay station checks out the white buttress on Peak 1 where he broke an ankle leading a climb several years back. He has vowed to go back and complete his unfinished business there - even though he completed the climb WITH A BROKEN ANKLE the last time around.

Several times, the wind picked up during the climb and scared us into thinking we might be looking at imminent rainfall. However, it held off. Though I did reconsider my decision to bring only an extra thin layer in my pack. If we had been forced to spend the night on the wall, you would have found me under a giant pile of moss and leaves in an attempt to stay warm.

It would have been an interesting cell phone call home explaining that I was stranded. Ahh well.

Some of the pitches required traverses that sometimes had sparse options for placing protection.

The pairing below waited as we began our assault on the final pitch, which was also the crux of the route. Climbing is an odd thing. These two had only met the night before at the campsite and did not know each other at all before that. In their case, they tackled this gargantuan climb with even less knowledge about one another than Bill and I had!

If you look very closely, you'll see the Taco Bell below on the right side. The thought of tacos and burritos was an extreme motivating factor, I tell you. Coming from Southern California, I'm used to having Taco Bells on every corner. In Canada, they are rare - and always with a diluted KFC menu.

At the belay station as Bill prepared to lay siege to the last pitch. Hard to believe we had climbed from the floor of the valley far below. At this point we knew we would make it up without getting stranded by rain, which is why I'm smiling.

Pulling over the final lip, I let out a whoop. It was the longest route I'd ever done by far. We climbed for about 8 hours to reach this point. All that faced us now was the walk down from the top and back to the parking lot.

Our approximate route up the Chief is shown below. What a beautiful piece of rock!

When I got home after dropping Bill off, he'd sent me an email. It contained a couple stories about cougar attacks earlier in the week in the Squamish area. There was also a video link to something filmed several days prior ON THE EXACT SAME PATH we'd walked down on our return to the car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EurvBPV_8YU

The cougar in the video had killed the camera operator's dog, the second one he/she had nabbed in the last few days.

Some day, I would like to actually see a cougar on the trail. I'd rather not have the cougar see me first, however.

The moral of the story for me is that in order to experience many important Adventures, it is necessary to cultivate great relationships. These relationships are what is going to move my life forward personally and professionally.

A story about someone else climbing the same route.

$500 = the Prize for Timeliness

2009-06-12T02:39:00.000-07:00

The Debacle at The Ambleside Masters Mile

How did my failure to arrive on time at an event cost me both prestige and $500?

I tell myself on occasion - mostly when I'm running behind schedule - that being a few minutes late is no big deal. Often that might be true; but on some level, there is always a price to be paid.

Let me explain:

I am an enthusiastic recreational runner. Included in living up to this definition is entering the occasional race. While I used to think that anything less than a marathon should simply be a training run, I've taken a new tact. Nowadays, I'll enter any race that I'd enjoy running. This includes oddball races of various lengths and trail races.

Last weekend, I entered the Ambleside Masters Mile along with a couple running buddies. Though this run has been going on for some time, I knew it was a fairly modest local event. As such, when I noted the registration cutoff was 45 minutes before the start of the race, I figured that was a rough deadline.

My departure in the morning from home was not hasty. And I encountered traffic attempting to get to the starting area and the road I was on was closed because of, get this: a race (the one I was planning to run). I was funneled onto a side street and found a parking place near the finishing area, which was appropriately a mile from the start.

Leaving everything in the car except for the $15 in cash I'd need to enter, I jogged to the starting area to find the check in and registration. Approaching the table with my $15 stretched out in my palm ahead of me, I immediately saw the look of concern on the lady's face who was there to process registration.

"You are 10 minutes too late. We closed registration at 9 sharp. But feel free to run the race all the same."

Running without a number or timing chip in this case turned me into what I call and 'INVITED bandit'. No big deal I thought.

I connected with my friends Mark Francis and Doug Gormican around the starting area and warmed up a bit. My goal was to run the race in under 5 minutes, a hard - but reachable - goal.

Kerry Ward running between Jim Swadling, a world-class Masters Runner and Mark Francis, another phenomenal Masters Runner who ran the Ambleside Mile finishing 10 seconds ahead of me.

When the horn sounded at 9:45, I tore off down the street. Accustomed to much longer runs, the race seemed like it was over before I mentally figured out I was in a race. At the halfway point, I was calculating the number of blocks left in the race. By the time my oxygen-starved brain had done the math, I could see the finish line a couple blocks away and I was feeling good.

Preparing to pour it on for a strong finishing kick, I felt my hamstring pull. Crap. It seemed like I could simply walk it home, but that didn't feel right - especially with the finish clock in sight and still on the young side of the magic 5 minute time. I came across the line at 4:58. Hooray!

Walking back up to the start with my friends we cheered the real Masters on as they finished the race. At the awards ceremony, I missed out on being eligible for the numerous fantastic draw prizes. $1200 Gold Pass to Mount Cypress, anyone? Yes, just not me. Two other people won those prizes. I made an offer to buy one, but the 80 year old guy said he, "thought his grandson might be able to use it."

Mark Francis, my friend walked away with a nice certificate for dinner in Horseshoe Bay and a giant basket of wife-pleasing products. I'm certain he'll gain much favor and latitude to run future races when he presents his monstrous winning basket to his betrothed like a neanderthal hunter delivering fresh kill to his cave. And that could have been me. Shoot. It was only 10 minutes late.

The final slap in the face that my tardiness caused me was that it turns out that I would have actually been the fastest finisher who actually lived on the North Shore of Vancouver. The prize for snagging this honor? $500 worth of training at a local fitness center. Double dang!

Though it seems like being on time is not a big deal, the reality is that it IS a big deal. Being late is a sign of disrespect, poor organization and lack of integrity.

Next year, you can be I will be on time - and I'll make certain my hamstrings are loose!

Dragging home the mammoth prize I'm envisioning to lay it on the doorstep and impress my family will require two good legs, I'm certain!

Final Days of Extreme Sledding Spring 2009

2009-05-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

Recently, a group of us picked an ideal day to head out and hit Mt. Seymour's ski hill, which had been closed for the year. Arriving at the top of the hill, we found one lift was actually still open - and there were a number of big unexpected vehicles up in the parking lot. They were movie trucks for a location that was apparently filming a skiing piece. The funny thing was that everyone was dressed in ski wear from the 80's - lots of one piece suits, tight pants, florescent colors and other interesting 'vintage' ski garb.

We ignored them and headed to the terrain park with a number of different sledding implements, toboggans, plastic sit down sleds, a scooter adapted with skis, an inflatable chair, etc. The park consists of several steeper stepped sections that still had LARGE jumps and landing hills that dropped away.

We found that the sleds would not cover the gap to make the leap from the 10 foot high ramps to the landing zone. This meant we were trying to control the steering challenged sleds so they would bypass the big jumps, but ramp off the drop off at the landing hill.

Walking up and down the hill so many times was probably not ideal Vancouver Marathon training, but it was very fun nevertheless. I had a few spills, the most notable of which, saw me flying 33 feet in the air only to land on my butt and left heel and tumble down into a heap on the snow. Quite a rush, but again, not the best tapering for the Marathon several days later.

Dan Studer and his son Jordan brought out most of the gear. Indigo and I brought out our friend Matthew Blair, who made the longest jump of the day on a very smooth run. He didn't actually break anything, but for the sake of a good YouTube headline, a little exaggeration was employed.

The moral of the story: Carpe Diem. Seize the day - for next week, the snow will be melted!

2008-11-11T18:08:00.000-08:00

Three days ago, I ran the first Ultra Marathon I've ever entered. It was the Haney to Harrison Ultra, or H2H. The run is 100 kilometers long, or 62 miles, or two and a half marathons, or ten 10K runs, or about 125,000 strides. Several hundred 8 person teams compete in this race as part of an eight leg relay team. 31 people signed up for the Ultra. 27 finished. Most of the folks dropping out were the young ones.

I hadn't been training specifically for this event, but have been running a good bit as part of my normal regimen. On the last possible day to sign up, about 10 days prior to the event, I decided to go for it. Had I been anticipating this event for months, my training and mental approach might have been quite different. As it was, I decided I was capable of doing the event and my main goal would be to finish before the cutoff time.

My running buddies thought I was nuts, largely because of the short notice. My biggest struggle before the event was planning the logistics and finding people to man my support team - a chore that required showing up at the start line at 3AM. Since my birthday is today, November 11th, I was able to use that trump card to leverage my wife into accepting crew duty for the last half of the race. She was not excited about the prospect of having to drive, navigate, tend to my needs and worst of all, wake up at ridiculous o'clock.

Posting up a plea on my RAA meetup group for crew members was fruitful. Here is the plea. Noel and Maxine stepped up graciously and told me they would be up for the job. Bless them. I owe them bigtime. Danielle, my wife, was even more happy than me as they stepped in and took over the whole thing. She was off the hook.

Talking about logistics over a big carb-filled pasta meal.

My list of things to bring was pretty long. I sorted everything out in our hallway and got everything organized in bags, boxes and tubs. I was as prepared as I could be.

Included in on my list of crucial ultra marathon food necessities was:

Salt pills
ibuprofen
Endurox (a protein based recovery drink)
Carbo Pro 1200 (carb/nutrition drink mix)
Carbo Pro Powder (mixed into electrolyte drinks for more calories)
Refresh (electrolyte drink)
GU20 (more electrolyte mix)
Glucosamine pills
Bananas
Grapes (a lifesaver)
Tiger Protein bar
Power bars
Power Gels
GU20 energy gels
Bread
Potato Chips
Red Bull
Salted boiled potatoes
PBJ sandwiches
Carrots
Granola bars
Cheese string
Landjaeger sausages
Water
20 bottles premixed electrolyte and carbo drink

Much of this stuff was in the back seat of the car.

I also brought all the clothes I might need including:

5 waterproof jackets
3 pairs of tights
2 pairs of sweatpants
3 pairs of shorts
12 sets of socks
5 pairs of underwear (why is this a 'pair' BTW?)
Running hat (to keep rain out of my eyes and serve as a place for my race number)
Reflective vest (obligatory for night running)
Headlamp
Red flashing light
4 sets of running shoes
1 set of shoes with the toe box cut off - in case of blistering toes

This stuff all fit into the truck - each item in its own bag and ordered according to preference.

Noel and Maxine came over at 2AM. I'd just started on my bowl of oatmeal with dried cranberries, toast and a banana. We reviewed the gear and loaded up. The final miscellaneous items I brought were:

Newspapers - to stuff into shoes etc. after getting fully wet
Towels
Pins - to pop blisters if necessary
Band aids
Blister ampoules
Chafe guard
Vaseline
Tape
Still camera
Video camera
Toilet paper
Sunglasses - optimists must be the only ones entering Ultras, I think
Folding chair
Umbrella
Stage maps
Directions to start

We arrived at the starting area at about 3:15AM in Maple Ridge BC.

My crew, amazingly, were smiling with totally chipper attitudes. They rocked.

I picked up my number and got prepped wearing three layers underneath my reflective vest. Everyone listened to the quick pre race briefing and ambled in a pack to the start line. There were several of us there who were attempting their first Ultra. I knew two North Vancouver people in the race, both of whom are contenders in any race they enter, Sammy and Nicola.

All the reflective runners made the starting pack look like Tron castmembers.

After a simple countdown, everyone shuffled off into the darkness at exactly 4AM. I fell into what I thought was an easy stride next to Nicola and was somewhat uncomfortable to find myself running along in third place for the first few miles. Certainly, I didn't expect to run in this position for the race. Sammy had checked out with another runner, who was wearing a trash bag dress underneath his vest. They were quite a distance ahead and gapped us quickly. As expected, I didn't see them again for the rest of the day.

My Garmin GPS/heartrate monitor was bouncing around a little bit, which gave me some concern because I felt like the reading was not accurate. I had decided that my tactics would be to keep my heartrate at 140 or under, but it was creeping up a little bit, so I rolled back the speed - though it felt like I was running very easy. A little group of four runners came up behind Nicola and I and several of them, Matt and Ron loped off ahead at a pace that was faster than I wanted.

My plan was just to run this race at a pace I thought I would be able to sustain for the duration. Without experience at Ultra distance, I just wanted to finish under the cutoff time, (getting to the 7the relay exchange area by 4PM). My finish prediction provided I didn't run into unforeseen issues was 10 hours, give or take half an hour.

About 3-4 miles into the run, I could feel the footbed sliding back in the Adidas shoes I had selected to start out in. This had been an issue before and I had rectified the problem by putting velcro on the bottom of the footbed. I had taken a couple runs in them and decided that I had cured the problem. Obviously it didn't. I've had several bad Adidas running shoe experiences now, so I won't be experimenting with other brands in the near future. Adidas sucks. Asics are consistently awesome.

I alerted my crew that I wanted to change into the next pair of shoes I'd lined up, a set of Asics Kinsei runners that were pretty new to me. Soon after, they appeared in a driveway with a towel spread out on the lip of the trunk and one of the back floor mats on the ground to keep my feet dry and gravel-free.

I kept the Ininji socks, that look like little white gloves for feet with their individual toe pockets. Having done a little reading about the Badwater 135 race and listened to a talk by Ferg Hawke, who had run that event several times, I knew that socks could be very important. While a pair was performing well and my feet feeling good, I didn't want to swap.

Having pulled to the side, I had allowed the little group around me, including Nicola, to get a little ways ahead. I was drinking a good bit of the Carbo Pro 1200, which I had pre mixed in little bottles. Knowing that I should be able to absorb 250-400 calories an hour, I wanted to keep the flow of nutrition going while I was running - even though I didn't really feel like drinking it.

After a short stretch, I caught up with Nicola again and another runner named George. We stayed close through the first couple exchange points and into the third relay leg of the race. It was still dark and though the ground was wet, it wasn't really raining. However, the parts of the race outside of town meant that we were running in pure dark conditions. It was nice having people next to me as the cumulative lumens of our headlamps made visibility a bit better.

Nicola's support car, with her partner Peter at the helm, had returned to North Vancouver to pick up a bag of equipment that they'd forgotten to bring. During this time, she ran with a camel back, but ditched that as soon as he returned. My support crew kept leap frogging me and providing me with whatever I wanted - food, drink, new shirts, etc.

During the run I had a couple bathroom stops, peeing in the bushes, dumping in a ditch. Because the pace of the run was well under what I normally train at, I was able to talk to most of the people I was running close to. Jason, an ironman triathelete ran with me for a while and then forged ahead as he thought the pace was a bit too slow. George and I talked about the marathons we had run. He was grateful on the third leg as we ascended a long windy hill that Nicola and I were nearby as his glasses were fogged up and he could see very little in the darkness.

I had planned to walk up the longer, steeper hills beforehand to keep the my heartrate down. This would often allow those near me to very slowly put a little gap between us if they kept running. Past the crest of the hill, the gap usually erased as I picked it up on the way down.

Dawn was coming up as Nicola and I left George behind a little ways. Some ways ahead, we could see Neil Waklin, a 61 year old legend running along easily. At the fourth exchange we caught and passed him. We had covered the first marathon length 26.2 miles in 3:53, a slow pace for both of us. Nicola had run the NYC marathon the weekend prior. I had done my longest (and only Ultra specific) training run of 24 miles on the same weekend. It was bizarre to think that after running for four hours, we'd still got another hour of running to do before we reached the halfway mark.

The next person Nicola and I caught up to was Pat. He had a steady pace and he and I ended up passing each other probably 8 times as the race continued and one of us would pull aside to have our crews minister to us.

It was raining on and off and I was conscious of wanting to keep the calories flowing in. I had some chips, some banana, part of a Power Bar, an energy gel, often eaten on the uphill sections where I was easing up. Around this point, the Carbo Pro 1200 potions started tasting rather unpalatable. I'd get a vomity burp or two after drinking it, but forged ahead anyway. I took an ibuprofen each 3 hours along with a glucosamine pill. This was my attempt to minimize any swelling and keep my joints lubricated during the run.

During one of my stops with my crew, Noel and Maxine, Nicola had run away as I changed out of my soaked running tights and into the signature purple/blue tights I use at some races.

On a stretch of plain flat road at about the halfway point, I felt my stomach rebelling against the wicked brew of gels, Carbo Pro 1200, bars and salty potatoes. With the saliva glands going off, I knew puking was imminent. Rather than resist, I just let it flow. After a couple little initial heaves, I let a gush of orange liquid fly out onto the shoulder of the road. For a quick second, I mourned the loss of the calories, but dang, I felt much better.

Immediately, my body felt better and I was able to continue. It was like a little running rebirth. From that point on, I stuck to electrolyte drink with Carbo Pro powder and plain water. This felt much better going in. If I ever do another race like this, I'll know what to use. I kept using energy gels as those seem to be easy to suck down with water; I still needed a little extra, however. THE GRAPES! At the next opportunity, I begged for the grapes I'd packed. They sounded so delicious. The perfect solution to my calorie intake challenge.

Let me tell you. Grapes are an amazing carb for this kind of run. They are easy to eat and digest and very appealing to a runner who has been on the road for 6 hours. I shared some of my bounty with Pat, who had continued the back and forth pattern with me.

My heartrate was pretty steady around 140 for the rest of the race. My monitor said my average heartrate for the final 36 miles was exactly 140, in fact. That kept my game plan in effect nicely.

Cruising as I approached the 7th exchange area.

Since Pat had been at a steady pace, a little before the sixth exchange area, I picked up my pace and maintained for the remainder of the run. This was enough to put a good gap between us before the eventual finish.

During the race, I'd been doing calculations in my head about how much of the race remained. One third through, one half, three fifths, etc. Looking at my watch, it was odd to see how much time remained as it was often many hours. It was kind of like a long day of work where you just know that there is a finish to the day - it just happened that my work was running. The easy pace slowly wore down my energy, but I never reached any crisis point in the run.

During the sixth leg, the fastest relay teams started passing me. The first couple teams to come by were just flying at an impressive pace. Despite that, they offered me encouragement with a 'good job' or 'looking strong' as they flew past. This was a nice boost as these guys were smoking fast, but could appreciate the effort it had taken to get to that point in the race. We'd been running for 40 miles before they started their race. The relay started several hours after the Ultra. I'd see some of the top teams before the finish, but most came in after my own finish. Everyone was spread out.

After the last exchange point, I knew the remainder of the race would be flat.

Another thing I was calculating during the latter part of the race was my eventual finishing time. I knew my pace was around 9 minutes and that if I continued at that pace (or at least under 10 minutes/mile), I would better my goal time of 10 hours. That kept me motivated to continue ahead, though I couldn't see Nicola ahead anywhere and Pat behind me had disappeared, too.

Coming into the finish area I always feel good in a race. Knowing the end is close, I let myself run a little bit more. Past the final turn, I could see the finishing area. After thinking that doing an Ultra would be an epic affair, my finish was decidedly undramatic.

Crossing the footbridge just before the finish.

After crossing the bridge I crossed the line in 9:47, in 7th place overall for the race, a better result that I had anticipated at the beginning of the day. I was very happy. My crew, Noel and Maxine were there to give me a nice hug. And I connected with Sammy, who had finished in 8:21 bettering his time from last year and winning the race easily. Nicola was the first woman to cross the line, an impressive 2 hours and 20 minutes ahead of the next closest female finisher.

Nicola crossing bridge.

Pat, Sammy and I at the finish for the awards.

My wife and her mother had gotten lost on the way to the finish, so they missed the actual finish, but appeared shortly after. Amazingly, unlike Sammy and Nicola, I had no blisters at all. My feet felt fine. Legs were tired for sure, but I was in better shape than I had anticipated. All in all, I was very happy with the day's efforts.

We walked to the nearby lake and I stood in the freezing water up to my upper thighs for about 5 minutes shivering to give my legs a cold jolt. Bonnie, my mother in law, took Noel and Maxine back to Vancouver in her car - they had a well-earned nap on the way back after their heroic early morning start.

Danielle and I went to the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel and soaked in their huge spa for a while before checking out the awards (made in the dark just after the last finisher came through the line at about 6PM). I ended up 4th in my age class (over 40); it seems that the fast guys are all old. The final results are posted here: Race Results.

According to my Garmin, I had burned about 9000 calories during the run, significantly more than I had taken in. After getting back home, snacking, stopping at Taco Bell on the way, and drinking several recovery potions, I got on the scale and weighed in at 162 pounds, or 10 pounds under my normal weight. This was a bit of a surprise and I attribute it to being somewhat dehydrated as my weight returned to normal the following day.

The overall pace for the 62 miles was 9:28/mile, slow and steady. It is the equivalent of doing ten 10K runs at just under an hour pace. The GPS reading showed slightly more than the actual run, 62.2 miles, which I would actually trust as the real distance as the GPS usually measures things a little shorter than they are due to connecting the dots with a straight line.

I was sore the next morning. Stairs and getting up and down were not fun. But all in all, I would have to say that running a marathon at that much higher level of output is harder in terms of recovery. The second day after I went out for a couple mile shakedown run to loosen up the legs. The soreness had abated significantly, though my knees and ankles were not quite back to normal at that point.

Right now, I feel at about 80 percent of normal, so I'll head out for another run tomorrow and see how I feel. Several of my other running friends were on relay teams so there will be some stories to swap around.

I'll have to think about doing another Ultra sometime in the future. Perhaps I'll take on a 100 mile race. The H2H for me this year was good validation that I can take something like this on and conquer it - without having to suffer!

Looking for Crew for the H2H 100K Ultra run this weekend

2008-11-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Hey Folks,

Proceed with Caution - perhaps this is not an event for the sane, which is why I'm posting it here.

This is NOT one of our normal RAA deals.

The Haney to Harrison [url=http://www.bcathletics.org/H2H/]http://www.bcathletics.org/H2H/[/url] 100k Relay & Ultra is this weekend. Many people will be part of 8 person teams tackling the relay in eight parts. Some folks have thrown common sense to the curb and entered the Ultra race intending to run the full 100 kilometers. I am one of those souls.

As a part of the race for the Ultra runners, we are required to have a crew in a support vehicle with us. This means that the crew will provide all the sustenance, shoe/sock swaps, clothing changes, liquid potions, emotional support, ibuprofen and encouragement necessary to get a bedraggled (and possibly cranky and delicate) runner to the finish line at Harrison Hot Springs.

The crew would help out keeping the runner (me) on track through the course navigation during the 62 miles. Taking a wrong turn could be a spirit crusher, you know. The support vehicle would advance a couple miles (they cannot idle alongside the runner) and then stop and wait for me to pass.

This is my first time at running a distance this long. My condition is pretty good, but I've never done something this long and intense, so I'm entering into unknown territory. I've heard hallucinations are not uncommon, so I might not be able to be held accountable for what I do and say. Basically, you might be dealing with a stricken and grumpy lunatic. If that sounds like fun, this is your kinda meetup.

Last Saturday, I ran an easy 24 miles and felt pretty good. I've run another 28 miles in the last three days, so my mileage is decent. I would be VERY happy to come in under 10 hours, but an hour in either direction would not surprise me. Really, I'll jut be happy finishing. The winner will cross the line in about 8 hours.

I'll have my wife and daughter there to support the last half, but I have no one for the first part of the race yet. The start time is 4AM, so from 4 to 9AM, I'm really needing some support.

Here's the discouraging stuff for you to consider before you say 'yes'.

1. you'll have to be up at 2:30AM - or maybe earlier
2. it'll be dark for a lot of the time
3. it will be cold
4. it'll probably rain
5. you might have to navigate
6. I might not be rational
7. I might not be civil
8. I might not smell good
9. you might have to tie my shoes
10. it might be lonely
11. you'll be out in the middle of nowhere
12. you might need a support crew yourself afterwards
13. you need a car

Here are some reasons you might WANT to do it.

1. this is a very exciting event
2. the energy of hundreds of runners is awesome
3. the route is quite beautiful
4. you can listen to your favorite music for 10 hours straight
5. you'll be watching from the comfort of your own car
6. you will share what will probably be a peak moment of my life with me
7. you'll be in the video I'm making of this
8. in fact, you'll be a camera person most likely
9. you'll be visiting Harrison Hot Springs if you stay to the end
10. the all access car pass means you'll have the best vantage point for the race
11. you WON'T have to run it yourself - but you'll still be in the race
12. I'll cover your gas costs
13. I'll be eternally grateful to you and probably bonded for life

Ideally, the crew should be two or three people, but it is doable by one person. Email me if you have questions or are considering doing this and I'll give you more details.

There is a pretty good information kit here: [url=http://www.bcathletics.org/H2H/ultrakit.htm]http://www.bcathletics.org/H2H/ultrakit.htm[/url]

If you've read this far, I know you are at least semi-curious about this, so it might be something you'd enjoy. I guarantee it will be a unique experience.

Cheers,

Kerry

Home Made 7 foot Robot - complete with 9 year old!

2008-10-30T20:59:00.001-07:00

This is a story about keeping the creative fun spark glowing ... - and giant robots, of course!

So my daughter, Indigo, decided that she would like to be a robot for Halloween a couple weeks ago. Since I like the idea of MAKING a costume rather than buying a plastic bag full of prefab
costume, I told her I'd gladly help her out with the construction.

Thinking about her diminutive frame and the scale of the average cardboard box, I inquired whether she wanted to make a giant robot. She loved the idea and drew a photo of a robot with her head appearing in the middle of the body in a television like opening. Perfect! I thought we'd have enough room to make a second set of arms that could protrude above her own. She gave that design touch the official approval.

We collected a bunch of scrap material - including a number of boxes and odds and ends, and turned our living room into a workshop.

For the main body to be the right size and shape, I combined three similar smaller boxes. The double layered interior was good for providing structure for the rest of it.

A used dryer vent hose that was being discarded at her grandma's complex would serve as the basis for a second set of arms - with the added touch of a stuffed set of motorcycle rain gloves taped to the end. The plan was taking shape Muahahahaha!

Note: evil presence lurking inside the robot carcass! Are you ready to lose a finger?

Indigo began outfitting her Dodee monkeys with space hats and decorations - someone had to live in the cake-tray brain, after all.

We were able to use some bumper paint I had on the shelf to transform our cardboard into fine robot alloy. Copper spray paint turned bottle and jar lids into robot control buttons. The back was our spiky heat sink and official New Mexico license plate. (Isn't that where there are a ton of UFO sightings?)

I used a couple of suitcase straps to form an internal backpack that we tailored to Indigo's height and did some test fitting. Underneath the space boots, she wears Heeleys, which allow her to glide along the floor - just like a simian controlled piece of machinery!

We took the whole rig out to Suburban Swing's costume party and contest. Indigo was very excited about her prospects. The cuteness factor did not hurt.

She was a big hit in the costume contest lineup - rolling around the floor in a circle.

Some close competition from the Dogfish-Flipper.

Costume contest finalists.

2008-04-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

It was a crazy year for snow on the North Shore this year. Grouse Mountain, which is a 15 minute drive from my house, or an 8 minute drive from my daughther's school, has a great deal on annual passes if you buy early the previous year. An annual pass is $50 for my daughter and $275 for me. So for a few hundred bucks we can ski anytime and be on the mountain in no time flat.

The terrain ranges from easy to pretty burly, steep double-black runs. Indigo did her first double black this year, in fact. There are also two terrain parks with pretty serious jumping possibilities. (I remember skiing growing up and having to luck out to find a jump anywhere. They just knocked them down as soon as they were made. Now they build behemoth jumps for everyone - awesome.)

I had my 8YO daughter try one action shot toward the end of the season - in the smaller park, mind you. She actually framed the shot and timed it well.

In any case, Grouse got 33 feet of powder this year. The season is finished and there is STILL more than 20 ft of snow as a base.

Indigo and I had a guy just ahead of us FALL off the lift with his snowboard and drop about 35 feet landing on flat ground. He was actually alright, though probably shaken up. The little crater next to him in the photo was where he landed. The lift attendant is running up to scrape up the body and was shocked that the guy actually stood up and began walking off. I heard him say, "Lucky the snow was so soft." On a different year, he would have fallen 10 feet further onto hard snow. I took the picture from the lift after we passed, you can see how far down it is.

At Mt. Seymour, there was more than 50 FEET of powder on the ground. They closed with a 30 foot base! A friend and I took our kids out for a night of snow cave camping one night about a month ago. The cave is still there. Damn, that was fun.

Snow cave by candle light is magical. We had fondue (cheese and chocolate - don't laugh) and read before settling in for the night.

The next morning. We had snow overnight. Surprise.

Dimensions were 12ft x 10 x 7ft high.

Dan and I probably moved about 6 tons of snow, I'd think. That was work, but well worth it.

Heading back to the car.

And a 25 minute drive would get us back down to the house. Gotta appreciate the seasons you are given, right?

20 people in a Jaccuzzi on top of Mont-Blanc? Why of course!

2007-10-15T02:47:00.000-07:00

It is always great to find someone doing something that unifies and inspires. The folks at www.jaccuzzi.ch have been staging unusual events for a little while.

Designing and building a lightweight, portable, component-based hot tub and then taking it up a 16,000 foot mountain qualifies as an unusual adventure. I would have volunteered to climb with them in a heartbeat.

Imagine the tingling sense of fun and accomplishment the group must have felt with 20 people enjoying a soak on top of Europe's rooftop. Kudos go out to them.

http://www.jaccuzzi.ch/index_e.html (use this link to get the whole story.

The Cardboard Boat Building Race at Deep Cove Days

2007-08-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

They have a cardboard boat building contest at Deep Cove Days, which is a yearly event in a small community nearby.

Indigo and I went to check it out and grabbed one of the 15 entries.

We are given a roll of packing tape, two pieces of cardboard about about 4 x 7 feet big and an exacto knife. We have an hour to build whatever we can.

There are some people who enter every year with pretty complex designs that look impressive. There are teams of people who get together and turn out some killer stuff.

A kid has to pilot the boat. The course is about a hundred meters out around a swim platform and back. LeMans start from the beach. Kids get a kayak paddle and a lifejacket.

Took every second of the time to put something together working alone with Indigo acting as my tape dispenser. Indigo does not have a lot of paddling experience - several ringers in the field - including the daughter of the kayak store contest sponsor and a couple other veterans.

Was a damn fun hour and a half of adventure.

Didn't know what to expect. Just told my daughter to enjoy herself and have a good time.

At the start, I'm still taping up bits and pieces of my master design. Indigo asks what a LeMans start is. I rush into the water with the boat set it into the seawater and lift her into it. Off she goes.

I'll be damned; she paddles off relatively straight and is in front of the pack. Thanks to her good balance, she maintains a good course - though I note that the CG is about 3-4 inches too high for easy stability (next year!) The favorite 3-time winner, daughter of the owner sinks (her mom told me she was glad because victory was taken for granted).

I'm not sure Indigo knows where to go exactly, I see her heading to the outer edge of the rope instead of the swim step. She is at the far right. Several of the boats have sunken quickly.

I see her then turn to go around the swim platform. The boy next to her in a very slick design is nearby. His boat was built by a large group with a good design.

As they go around the platform, I see Indigo and the boy get quite close. I pray that they don't make contact as Indigo is less stable. But they do connect. The boy knocks her into the water and the boat capsizes. She is the far left boat. The boy is next to her.

I see the boat upside down and my daughter dog paddling to stay afloat as she struggles to get into the boat again. After a couple minutes, one of the support boats goes over and pulls our cardboard boat out. Amazingly, it holds together. He drains it and manges to get her back into it. They are in the background next to the red boat here. Boy who dunked her is in the foreground coming to shore in first place. (He had just returned from a three day paddling trip with the sponsor's family so he was good with paddling. Nice boat, too.)

In the backgroun above, the boat behind the lead boy is just sinking after having passed Indigo while she treaded water. He eventually makes it to shore, too.

Indigo paddles towards the shore in solid second place after passing the sunken 50 feet off shore, she begins to pull left. I'm yelling to her to put extra left side strokes to straighten out. She doesn't quite get it and begins going parallel to shore - almost even heading BACK out to sea. Eventually, she brings it in for a second place finish and I am thrilled.

Several things stood out for me.

First, Indigo had a phenomenal start and even traveling extra distance with confusion on where to go, lead the whole first half. She got bumped into the water and still managed to get in again to complete the race. I was very proud.

Second, I am very happy my design worked and was tough enough to capsize, fill with water and STILL have the strength to complete the course even in its sodden form.

Third, silly contests like this can be a blast and really test design and innovation.

Fourth, I'm glad that second prize was 6 hours of Kayak classes for Indigo next month. Next year, we'll have that part mastered, I think.

Here are a couple shots of the design after the battle of the bay.

I started with a long box form with carefully creased seams that I taped inside and out. I made triangular spars for strength and rigidity that I taped in the bottom length ways from front to back on either side.

On top of those spars I made three triangular braces for Indigo to sit on. I taped them to flat pieces on each end to spread the load and add strength. I also placed a triangular form in the bow for her to put her feet on to brace and keep load from pressing directly through the wet cardboard. This seating system worked well and provided valuable rigidity, I think. Next time, I will lower her seat height, however, for added stability. With help, I could make a more curved design that bulged in the middle like a canoe. (Several entries were amazingly built versions of canoes, but folded like a house of cards.)

I also formed a triangular nose to cut through the water as my time wound down. It was not pretty, but worked well. The key was keeping seams to a minimum and taping seams well.

We were only allowed to tape seams so covering the bottom completely with tape for waterproof-ness was not allowed.

I was so pleased that the boat was actually able to go underwater, yet still finish floating strong.

Notes for next year: Make sure Indigo takes paddling lessons. Take one handy partner to help with build. Lower CG just a tad. Widen base at sitting point. Keep away from other boats if possible. Run far into water before putting Indigo in boat to get out of starting fracas. Tape ridge to boat bottom to keep boat from moving laterally.

Any other design tips you can think of? Strategies?

Women Dig Scars? -Or is it the story behind them?

2007-07-17T22:11:00.000-07:00

We’ve all heard the expression, “Women dig scars.” Usually, the phrase is tossed out when beholding the aftereffects of a particularly ghastly maiming. To be sure, there is an undeniable appeal where scars are concerned; they might mark a magnetic bad-boy (or girl) persona representing a romantic ideal for some. So is it the scar itself that holds appeal? Perhaps this is the case for some. But, I’m willing to bet that it is the story or experience behind the scar that is really appealing to most.

Tattooing is a form of scarring that is also in vogue. The most powerful tats are packed with meaning, a picture of a child, a Marine Corps insignia, a spiritual reminder. Tattoos that serve as mere decorations may not be as fashionable in a decade (or five). They could be considered capricious elective scars – like rubbing holes in brand new jeans to lend them some character. Tattoos that come with a story are infinitely more significant – they are like scars that have been earned through hardship and adventure. The tattoo might be skin deep, but the meaning sinks all the way in, which can make it irresistibly attractive.

Occasionally, I’ll see a 4X4 absolutely covered with mud – even the windows might be solidly dirt-encrusted with only the clean sweep of the windshield wipers providing a peephole out of the cabin. The whole effect screams, “I’VE BEEN OUT RIPPING UP THE ORV TRAILS AND HAVING A BLAST! HOW ABOUT YOU?” With a tinge of envy, I picture the fun the driver must have had piloting the truck through some goopy, unknown crevasse. It is another version of scarring. The dirty 4X4 is not what is appealing to me, rather it is the WAY it came to be in that state that inspires my imagination.

Now consider how many SUVs and trucks are prowling the highways and city streets – fully capable of going off road, loaded with features designed to conquer gnarly terrain, bristling with potential. I’ve seen them, shiny and clean with chromed wheels and burly brush guards, Hummers, Land Rovers, Jeep Grand Cherokees. The majority of them will be lucky if they ever touch a dirt road or punch through even a minor snow drift – never mind a true off road adventure. They are glorious, 8mpg monuments of untapped potential.

But we’re not really talking about SUVs at all. Do you know people who have all the equipment to live life Full Tilt, but don’t? Are you equipped with fancy options like, amazing creative intelligence, a hidden musical virtuosity, a legendary endurance? Are you using the tools you’ve been blessed with to improve yourself and the world? Think about it.

My wife dislikes my North Face duffel bag, which I use frequently. I love it and am attached to it despite its haggard looks. It is a rough looking piece, but still functional and structurally sound. It is a medium sized silver bag with thick straps that serve as handles. The waterproof silver coating over the canvas has detached from the under layer and is torn in several places. There are dark marks and discoloration from years of hard use. One zipper has lost its pull tab. The first layer of stitching where the steel loops connect to a shoulder strap is coming undone. It’s condition is a reflection of several decades of travel to most of the earth’s continents, probably 100,000 miles strapped to the back of a motorcycle, countless uses as a race bag, trips out dancing while containing drinks and sweat-free replacement shirts as well as a thousand other uses.

My North Face bag’s appearance has been earned through years of hard adventure. If it were a Land Rover, it would be covered with mud from an African watering oasis. I didn’t realize how much I’m attached to that bag until my wife started to point out its bedraggled condition and suggesting a replacement. How could I sacrifice that history, the legacy of great adventure? In life, it is what you experience and do that earns you the scars that mean something. Bear them with pride and confidence and women (and men) will dig them, too.

My beloved North Face duffel is pictured below.

This license plate and mirror were bug-ified with 3000 miles of high speed highway travel. They tell a story.