South 'Wack

My friend Jenn Compeau who is a graphic designer—a talented one I now know—sent the four of us in the editorial department today her South Park caricature versions of us, and they are hilarious.

For those of my friends and family that don't know my editor Ken and the other two reporters Mike and Darren (who is Jenn's boyfriend) the ones of them won't mean much. But the one of me is pretty funny.

For those who don't know South Park (my parents I assume?) here is a shot of the four main characters on the show:



And here's the four of us, first of all me, note the courier bag (looks like a purse) and cup of coffee, although I haven't received an answer yet why I have tears on my face:



Here's Darren, note the beer in hand, guitar recently taken up, red eyes and, sadly, that's supposed to be vomit on his face and clothing:



Here's Mike, note the headphones (he's a music guy) and subtle reference to South Park with the T-shirt featuring Towelie, the character who occasionally appears to advise the boys about proper towel use and then asks them if they want to get high . . . they always say no:



And here's Ken, the editor, ostensibly my boss. Note the spikey hair, business suit and mug of beer. Of course the cigarettes only make an appearance when too many mugs of beer have been around, but best of all is how much this looks like Ken. But better yet is how he thinks it doesn't. Silly Ken:



Nice work Jenn.

Nothing like a baby

Joanne's friend Leesa from Ontario is visiting right now with her six-month-old baby Colby. What an amazing rejuvenator (a word?) of life is a baby. All he does is eat, poop and flop around on the floor or in your arms, but he is so brimming with life it's infectious.

Here is little Colby and his mom.



Here's to babying it up.

Sun Runnin'

My blogging of late is at least a few weeks behind my life . . . it's kind of like a journal, but after every incident in my life I've been locked in a trunk for a while in the meantime.

So last month we did the Vancouver Sun Run 10K, which was a ball of laughs. Sweet time in Vancouver at the Sutton Place (we even hot-tubbed with Lou Diamond Phillips the night before the big race, but he declined to join us).

Here's a shot of us before the race in the hotel. That's Ann and Ken Goudswaard on the left, Ken is my editor. Me and Joanne in the middle of course, and that's John and Michelle on the right. Michelle is the paper's graphic designer:



Only three of us from the Times came for the race, but there were literally hundreds of others from the CanWest chain, otherwise known as the Mothercorp.

Here we are at the start line, but seeing us might be tough.



Here's me crossing the finish line. Note my arms slightly raised in the air in some sort of pathetic victory signal, but my arms are too weak to lift. Nice. I finished in 58:31 and all I wanted to do was break an hour so I was happy. It felt kind of slow and I finished in 11,524th but that also means I beat 42,793 others. Yeeha.



Much better looking is Joanne crossing the line. Note the smile on her face on these photos, while I look like I'm barely alive. Joanne also kicked my ass with a time of 56:30 finishing in 9,309th place. That means in those short two minutes 2,215 people crossed as well. That includes Ken who came in 57:31.





Here's my column I wrote for the paper after the run.

Simply A Musing

Pain of Sun Run all worth it

By Paul J. Henderson

I hate running. I'm sorry, it's true, but that's my starting point to write about the Vancouver Sun Run last weekend.

In truth, I enjoy running in a way similar to the way I enjoy banging my head against the wall: It feels really good to stop.

But the more I banged my head against that wall training for the Sun Run the more I started to get some of that good feeling during the running. Bizarre. It stopped being painful all the time.

The act of running became something more than an uncomfortable means to an end. That end was this massively popular run, and I can't say enough about the experience. This year three of us here in the Times office and our significant others signed up and while some had done it before, it was new to me.

Over 54,000 people tackled the biggest 10K run in Canada. That's like an entire city running down the streets of Vancouver. I can tell you that some 555 people from Chilliwack took part. Of those who ran there were young and old, healthy and not-so-healthy, and those of all shapes and sizes.

A good chunk of those running were "runners" (or, as one reporter in this office calls us: "joggers") but a good chunk were those trying to do something like this for the first, and maybe last time.

I had a goal of doing the race in under one hour and I'm happy to report I made it. At 58:37, not a particularly fast time, but I was amazed to note that I finished ahead of 42,777 others. While my fiancée Joanne and I had a romantic notion of crossing the line hand in hand, the energy of the event did more for her than me, and she bravely bolted off, finishing in 56:30. Good for her.

Times editor Ken Goudswaard, Joanne and I ran stride for stride for much of the race, but in the end he too left me in the weeds finishing in a time of 57:31. Our graphic designer Michelle was the third from our office and she strode in at a respectable 70:55. While she wasn't ecstatic about her time, she beat more than half the field.

What was amazing to me in terms of the numbers involved was that in the two short minutes between Joanne and I more than 2,000 others crossed the line.

Of those who did this run there was someone with one leg; some pushing others in wheelchairs; some limping with determination; some seemingly too young; and some so old their determination was humbling.

Many couples and families ran together, and among the Chilliwack runners crossing the line together I noted: two young Skittrell girls; two young Fitzsimmons boys; the father and son (I assume) Wixwats; the Snows, the Laws, the Sawatzkys, and so on—illustrating to me the power of such a shared endeavour.

Maybe it sounds corny to those who didn't participate, but there is something inspirational about so many people all running 10 kilometres along the same route, hearing the same bands serenade us, gazing at the lovely views of the coastal mountains, the ocean, English Bay, and the city.

Some strode across the finish line with elegance and grace, with the physical aesthetic singular to the athlete. Some strode across and crumpled in a heap, exhausted in body, exhilarated in mind knowing something never done before was achieved.

It was a challenge, and it was something we did in common, with our partners, our children, our community members and, heck, with people everywhere.

So, OK, maybe running isn't so bad after all.

NIMBYism in Full Force

Here is my column from our April 6 issue regarding a mob of NIMBYs who descended on city hall.

I would advise all suburbanites who hang on to their love of lawns and strip malls to read James Howard Kunstler's The Geography of Nowhere, and visit his website too: www.kunstler.com

Simply A Musing
By Paul J. Henderson
phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com

The NIMBYs descended upon city hall on Monday to protest a development of unspeakable evil.

No, it wasn't a rendering plant or a dog food factory or even a coal-fired electricity generation plant. Not a pulp mill, nor an abattoir, nor a casino.

This, fellow residents of Chilliwack, was much more insidious and it inspired passionate community opposition to make sure Mayor Clint Hames and council were clear that this development should not happen. Well, at least, Not In My Back Yard.
(I should say "not in their back yard," but NIMBY sounds better than NITBY.)

This development was none other than that nasty monster known as—wait for it—townhouses!

Long the bane of civilized peoples everywhere, we all know the horrible consequences of townhouses. For this Sardis community of single family dwelling owners that malignity comes from the whiff of possibility that they may have to live adjacent to renters (ugh!) and the other ne'er-do-wells and detritus that come with those who can't afford their own detached home.

Yes, council had it laid on the line for them, in the words of one resident: "The surrounding residents reject this type of devleopment."

At Monday's meeting, council listened to resident after resident complain about the idea that the property in question would be transformed into five, or possibly eight, townhouses. One resident even literally said that, and I paraphrase, people in this townhouse complex will be able to peer in his back yard. The NIMBY all but said, "not in my back yard!"

But sarcasm aside, something about the anachronistic antagonism of those opposed to the reality of more people living near them made Mayor Clint Hames snap. And he did so in a way that was so refreshing I don't hesitate here to sing his praises.

During the discussion over the proposed eight-plex on this piece of property where there currently is a single family home, one area resident said he and his wife used to live in another area of Chilliwack and suddenly a development "popped up over night," leading to an utterly distasteful "rental population," with the invariable grow-ops that come with renting.

Another woman pointed out that when she purchased the area was single family and she expected it to stay that way.
Hames seemed to get frustrated at this point and he asked the woman, "what’s the bad thing about townhouses?"

The NIMBY replied: "Well when we purchased it was single family."
Hames: "But what makes it worse?"
NIMBY: "It doesn’t make it worse, it makes it different, and we chose to live in a single family development."
Hames: "So what’s wrong with townhouses?"
NIMBY: "There’s nothing wrong with townhouses."
Hames: "Just as long as they’re not near you?"

The exchange was based on the premise that Hames now lives in Garrison Crossing where he lives quite amicably in his neighbourhood with people who live in townhouses, and where there will soon be condominium apartments.

Once all the councillors went through their reasons for rejecting the development, Hames too agreed to reject it, but only because this particular development seemed too much for this particular lot. Parking and a lack of sidewalks were reasons, for example.

But it was the underlying attitude that got under Hames' skin—and for what it's worth, mine too.

The reality is that the Lower Mainland is changing, suburbia does not work for all kinds of reasons not least of which is dwindling world oil resource and environmental degradation. People need to get used to living closer to each other, and not being so quick to judge and abhor those of us who rent or live in apartments or condos or duplexes or townhouses.

As Hames put it to the crowd is his somewhat didactic—and delicious—diatribe, these types of developments are OK with those in this neighbourhood, as long as it's somewhere else.

"I'll tell you what," he said. "Somewhere else is full."