Countries Visited

Some have asked me: "What countries haven't you visited yet?" Well to make my life easier I've graphically illustrated and listed the countries I have visited. So this took a bit of thought taking into account the various trips with my family in my younger years. Well this is what I came up with... I've been to a total of 19 countries so far in my lifetime which include:

Canada (All Provinces),
United States (Most excluding the southern states),
United Kingdom (London, Scotland),
France (Paris),
Germany (Heidelberg),
Belgium,
Spain (Malaga, Madrid, Barcelona),
Switzerland,
Bahamas (Naussa, Freeport),
Vatican,
Netherlands(Amsterdam),
Gibraltar,
Greece (Ipsos, Sayiadha, Plataria, Petreti),
Italy (Florence, Venice, Rome),
Austria,
Morocco (Tangier),
Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, Cairns, Adelaide, Yulara, Cooper Pedy),
New Zealand (Queenstown),
Philippines

The maps below show in red the land my feet have touched so far.

Canada


United States


Australia


Europe


The World


I hope to travel more of Asia and South America later in life but we'll see how that goes. Still lots more to see and do! Hopefully I can keep this blog up and running long enough to document my travels in life as I live it ;)

FYI: I generated these maps at: www.world66.com

The Day After Toronto

The two day dragonboat festival on Centre Island was amazing. In the end we did move up a division which I'm happy about (from "L" to "K") and we qualified for "B" division in the University Cup finals. Still much to improve on before the Hamilton and Waterloo festivals. Check out the final times here.

I was quite sick leading up to this festival but with lots of rest and medication I was able to get better just in time. I've already posted a media blog for day one, day two will come shortly along with a better synopsis of what happened each day. GOooo Swordfish!!!!

Toronto Dragonboat Festival

Hey Dragonboat fans and friends alike get ready to witness the biggest Dragonboat Festival in Ontario! The two day event will host some of the top competitors in the province! Come see what the hype is all about! Where: Centre Island, When: This weekend June 25/26th early morning till late afternoon.

More information about the festival itself can be found here.
For race times and other details go here.

On Saturday team Swordfish is scheduled for race 5 (8:40am) & 21 (11:20am) yeah I know its early~ How well we do on Saturday will determine our race times and division for Sunday. Also I'm not sure if we're doing the invitational races that are not for rank but just for fun, anyways we'll be there most of the day and mid afternoon so come out see what its all about and cheer us on =) Along with the races there will be an array of shows, free-stuff booths, food, etc... It is estimated that 125,000 spectators will be at Centre Island that weekend!!!


See ya there! (photo by, Edgar.T)

Triple Bday Celebrations

A big happy Bday goes out to: Fio, Jeannie and Neel all of whom are on the dragonboat team and were also out to celebrate yesterday night =) We had practice that morning with Jason coaching, it was great we all really felt the burn. After that a few of them came over to my place to just relax before the dinner and dancing later in the evening. Overall the night was great. It did however seem to go on forever! On a final note: Happy Bday Everyone!


Fio, Dan.Ho, Jeannie (Photo from: Fiona)

Uniforms on the way!

Our dragonboat uniforms are coming soon! I designed 3 unique logos for the swordfish dragonboat team. The team also voted on what color scheme and layout they wanted from the choices I provided. Below is the winning logo/color scheme/layout.


Take a gander at the other designs.

After we got the shirt design ironed out a few of us on the team started scouting for companies that could make the design a reality. It was a long process and we finally settled on Regatta Sport to make our "Coolmax" based uniforms =) They should be arriving in a few days now! O yes I also tried silk screening on my own but ended up using more of a stenciling technique instead.

Carwash Aftermath

This weekend at practice James tried his had at coxing (steering the boat). He did a great job for his first time and definitely made it more exciting.... haha lots of zigzags at first but he got the hang of it. It was blistering hot that day.

The sunday fundraiser I'd say was a sucess we had a constant flow of cars and we did fundraise quite a bit! As always these sort of events really help strengthen team spirit. Memorable mentions include the advertising of "Topless car washes" five dollars!" and the car wash lineup. I can't wait till our next event. Thanks goes out to all of you that came out! I'll post pics of the car wash once I get some from the other teammates.

Paddles UP! READY READY!!!

(photo by, Felix)

My life Capsule

I still can't believe I backpacked around Europe. I've experienced so much in just a few years I needed this site to help preserve those memories. A sort of life capsule if you may that can take me back in time when I'm old and grey and make me say "wow I did that! and Ooo yeah I remember that." I wonder how long I can keep this thing going? I still have tons and tons of content to post!


I just posted a new Media Blog of Cambridge University! Check it out =)

Car Wash Fundraiser

Hey readers come out and support the the Swordfish Dragonboat Team and get your car washed by our dead sexy team!

We'll be washing cars for $5.00 on:
Sunday June 12th from 10:00am - 5:00pm
Petro Canada 2908 Young Street (two blocks south of Lawrence).
Enjoy the Spectacle!




(flyers by: Dan.Ho)

Nicholas Before & After

This afternoon I'll be taking my brothers dog 'Nicolas' to the groomers today at Petsmart. He's quite furry and needs a bath so today he's gonna get the royal treatment. His fur is coming off and he'll also be bathed, getting his nails clipped, and teeth cleaned. He should be happy afterwards with all this hot weather. I'll post a before and after picture later on =)

Before: Fluffy powderpuff...Yes he's not that small for a bichon


After: I think there was a mixup is this nicholas??? Yes!

Milton Dragonboat Festival

We just had our first Official Dragonboat Race Day! The Lively Dragon sponsored dragonboat festival in Milton was the venue where we participated in a 250m, three 500m and a 2000m course. We got 2nd place overall in our division for the 500m.


Team Huddle (photo by, Dan.Ho)


Setting up Base Camp (photo by, Dan.Ho)

Eight of us also helped paddle for the Steel City Paddlers of Hamilton. I raced an additional two 250m courses so I did a total of 7 races that day! I was exhausted! For those of us that raced with the Steel City Paddlers we won a first place medal in that division =D

It started to rain heavily but we endured! After all was said and done we went to Mandarin Buffet and celebrated the great start to the season. I slightly injured my shoulder but its almost better.

Come watch us next at The Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival which is slated for June 25/26th.


Last year in Toronto (photo by, Edgar Tinio)

Lions & Tigers & Whales?

Have you ever wondered what animal hybrids actually exists in the world? We'll today was that day! I found a site that lists known hybrids in the world. There's some funky beasts out there but one that really stood out was the Wolphin (a Whale-Dolphin) and Liger (a Lion-Tiger). Ligers seem believable and wow are they massive! Now a Wolphin is just weird I mean how does a Whale mate with a Dolfin? That just seems awkward.

I've Upgraded!

I'm tired why O why do I keep working on this blog! Making entries isn't enough I keep wanting to improve its design. So what did I do today? I removed the outdated journal and introduced this new custom styled blogger. Oy its time for a break.

Coming soon:
My month in Spain - Malaga, Barcelona, Madrid North Africa/more UK - Morroco, Gibraltar, more London Small Towns in England - From Titchmarsh to Cambridge *after that i have NewZealand and more Australia to post! Yipes!