Occupy something?

In the wake of all the ‘OCCUPY’ protests popping up in major centres, I see that people ponder and question whether it is a valuable and reasonable solution to what most perceive as a problem. That problem is the ever-widening gap between the extremely wealthy and the increasingly poorer poor and working population. Also, in Canada we haven’t bailed any banks or corporations out, have we?

Watching and hearing these people protest is tiring. In Canada I feel that there is a sense of protesting and being part of a movement just because others are doing it. Without fully educating oneself, I see individuals being interviewed with no valuable information to add to why they are protesting. What is going to be garnered by freezing their ass off and sleeping in a tent day and night?? What about being a part of society and contributing by going to work each day? Is it not questionable that maybe protesting in this current movement and not being employed does not really give a person the right to protest in the first place? In most cases, these protests are costing the cites money for damage and daily clean-up that would otherwise not be necessary. Are these people paying taxes in the city they are making a mess of? Wouldn’t it be a little off since it’s the 99% that are paying for their cause?

On a side note, for those that live in BC, Vancouver and Victoria in particular, many will be familiar with the movement to stop oil tankers from traveling up the coast of BC for fear of an oil spill. I guess the massive blowout in the Gulf last year and recent pipeline bursts haven’t exactly helped the cause for tanker transport. I personally watch the petitioners standing outside MEC in Victoria with a biased voice. I bet they get into a car and drive away after they are all done protesting though. Or maybe they use a petroleum derivative every few minutes of their life. Either way, we are all hypocrites if we decide to petition and protest. Each of us to be a true protester has to, in my opinion, be fully engulfed in their view and opinion. Part of that embodies living it every day. In BC, the resource sector is huge. In Canada it is huge. As much as we all might try to convince ourselves otherwise, we as a county need oil, gas, gold, copper, lead, zinc, and many other industrial metals, to export as part of basic economics. Without those basic economics, we wouldn’t have the luxury of living in a developed county with access to amenities, healthcare, etc.

Back on track…

I agree, there are far too many CEOs being paid far too much for what they do. Let’s take a look at what they actually do. A CEO is the face behind a company, the one that takes the rap for what goes wrong, the person (along with the board) that is accountable to the shareholders. Some might say that it is a highly stressful job. Look at those guys, they all have grey hair, from age or stress (let’s leave genetics out for now)! I think if they are running a company well then they should be compensated, however the converse is also true. Example: Research In Motion – 2 CEO’s that should see their compensation packages decrease in the wake of the continuing negativity towards a valuable business. How about CEO’s that are a director, at the very least, of a number of corporations? Maybe there should be a limit to the number of corporations any one person can be a director of. Maybe that would aid in limiting the amount of conflict of interest that goes on repeatedly in publicly traded corporations.

At the end of the day what gets me the most is the media. Sure, CEO’s make a lot, give themselves huge bonuses in cash or stock options, but we are all kept on our toes by the media – the newpapers, the news on tv, radio, the internet. With their input of countering stories on a daily basis the equity markets, for instance, turn into a landslide one day and then a Himalayan climb the next. This benefits the wealthy in every sense possible. I’m sure they have insight into where the news is going before the rest of us do, and even if they don’t they are still the ones that are able to manipulate the market by basically monopolizing the gains by ousting investors that are planning for their retirement. It all comes back to media and the frenzy they create. Just look back to 2008 – the ‘R’ word (recession) was spoken every single day just to make sure we all knew what was going on, because we forgot from the day before. Today it is Greece, tomorrow it is Italy, the next day it will be somebody else.

Just spitballing, but is there any correlation between the amount of debt and when that debt was created with the hosting of the Olympics? It would be interesting to see when Italy and Greece took on most of their debt that is in the face of default.

At the end of the day, I believe that our days on this earth and becoming increasingly directed by media and the fear-mongering that is instilled by it. This whole OCCUPY movement is a joke in my view. They might have good intentions, but they probably shouldn’t be eating and drinking Starbucks if they are protesting such corporations…

A kid in a candy shop

2 blog posts back-to-back!? No way!? This is to all those out there that enjoy gluten-free, as a choice or out of necessity. It's a reminder that we have it really good in Victoria compared to a decade ago, or 2 decades ago.

As a child my mother had to order WEEKS of bread and treats (I say that liberally as 'treats' were limited back then) in advance for my younger sister and I. We are both coeliacs and have been for years - since we were young children. Back in the UK in the '90's I remember coming home to an order of a few boxes of goods that we had to deep freeze to prevent spoiling. Oh the joys of deep freeze - a way to prevent spoiling but you get that free oh-so-lovely freezer burn taste added after weeks of sitting there. The 'treats' that we got were ridiculously expensive sausage rolls, and fruit turnovers. Not many, mind you, because they were not cheap. It was hard to ration ourselves so to have them last all those weeks before we placed another order. Bearing in mind that all this food came from England, and we lived in Scotland. That gives you an idea of how hard it was to get gluten-free food back then. Finding GF pasta was even a chore!

Today, we can all walk into a shop and see increasing amounts of GF food at our disposal on a daily basis. It's a great thing and a wonderful step forward for everybody that is either Coeliac or on a GF diet because of intolerance or personal choice. There is a BIG difference between intolerance and being diagnosed Coeliac, by the way. Some are unaware, or there is a misconception that they are the same. There is also a misconception among many that Coeliac Disease can go away. Well, it is an auto-immune disease and is life-long.

In Victoria there are so many resources for people on a GF diet:

Origin Bakery at the Stadacona Centre (Oak Bay junction), Sante GF Cafe (Between Hillside and Bay on Quadra), GF Pizza at Oregano's (Fairfield Village), GF Pizza at Ali-Baba's, GF Pizza at The Joint (Warf Street), GF Burgers at Jackalope Bistro (On Yates by the cinema).

These are just a few. You can go into Save-on-Foods now and buy Udi's brand bread, pizza bases, cookies, muffins, bagels. This brand is probably the best one I have tasted so far, for pre-packaged mass-produced GF foods. You can buy it at Market on Yates also, but for some reason they freeze all their product.

I'm hoping to find as many resources and places to get GF foods in the city I am moving to. For me, I get a real sense of happiness to see that there is a GF alternative or substitute to a food that I would otherwise be unable to enjoy on a evening out. That smile on my face comes from all those years of not having the treats and foods at such a convenient disposal that everybody takes for granted. I'm like a kid in a candy shop!

Patterns and recognition

Far be it from the human race to see and register a pattern for future reference. We are generally inept at preventing ourselves from making the same mistakes over and over. I say this after a recent (within the last 9 months) on-and-off conversation I have had with advisors regarding the money markets.

This is a box of random shapes is it not? Children understand this. Heck, even adults understand this. So, why do we teach children to play and understand these shapes - recognition - if it does not have value later in life?

I woke up this morning to see the TSX Composite Index hit a new 52-week low within the fist 2 hours of trading. I lay there thinking to myself, 'I knew it'. Reality is that nobody really KNOWS, but those that forecast market outlooks can give a general idea of what may happen. Back in January when the TSX was hovering around and over 14,000 points, I had mentioned that I thought it was due for a correction. That idea was knocked down and I was told that the Canadian equity market was only going to get stronger through the year. WRONG. In June, that forecast by the same person had changed dramatically.

For me, this short-lived downturn in markets is a great thing as it provides A LOT of opportunity to get in on some good companies at low prices. I am not an advisor, far from it in fact, but I am following my gut as it has steered me in a good direction so far. Looking at a lot of charts this morning there is a consistent pullback in stock prices until the last day or two. Just by drawing basic lines on a chart I can see that there are new lower lows, and new lower highs, which technical indicator teaching would suggest a selling point. However, a dramatic break through that extrapolated line is what is going on with most stocks. What I see is trigger-happy people are selling and all the stop-losses that investors place to protect themselves are hitting, propelling stocks downward. I think there is at least a dollar or more correction on the upside to be had in the short term for many TSX stocks that will account for those stop-losses.

Markets lately are so volatile that it is hard to get a good grip on what is happening. I am looking at both short term and long term trading, and both have different strategies. While long term is more related to the fundamentals of cash flow and dividend payments, with modest growth, short term trading - for me - is based on daily ranges and volume. In the short term, I don't care about the fundamentals. What matters more is market sentiment.

Like I said, this blog is going to be random now! Time to get hyped up of caffeine and do some organising.

**Note that none of what I am writing about is advice or even remotely based on anything other than my own opinion. Please do not take any of this for word and go spend your life savings playing on the stock market without soliciting advice from a real advisor**

Huge performance!

http://triathlon.competitor.com/2011/09/video/video-jeff-symonds-post-race-from-ironman-70-3-worlds_39004

What's been going on?

I think the last time I posted on this was about a year ago. Things have changed significantly since then.

I left the notion of becoming the best I could be as an elite athlete (in BC at least) with a bitter taste in my mouth. Starting out on this path, I found it difficult to place the trust of what I saw as my goals and future in another person. That wained, and I soon gained the confidence to place more and more trust in the people that were essentially guiding me towards my goals. I say 'guiding' because it is a two-way street for both communication and trust. Nobody is perfect and never will be. We can still have expectations. What I learned last year is that I was trusting the wrong person. All of the work through the winter months that I saw great gains with just dwindled away. I watched as all of my plans for racing went by the wayside because of the same problems and there was little help nor good advice from where I really needed it. In hindsight, it shows a lack of experience. One can attribute that to whomever they like. I was upset as I was basically disowned as an athlete by the same person that I had trusted all along. All of this added up to a terrible feeling about my presence in the sport and my future in it. Lessons from experiences are what make us better and stronger at what we do. So, for those lessons I am thankful.

Although I am not pushing on towards the same goals I was over a year ago, I still have a passion for sport; I always have. Without sports as a kid, all the way up through university, I would not have met some of my close friends, I would not have seen some of the places I have seen, nor would I have had the sense of excitement and joy that you get from competing and leaving it all out there. I would not have seen many beautiful sunrises that I would otherwise would have no idea even occurred. Next year I will make a return to some racing and I will show that I am the best in the class I will compete in. In the meantime, I am working back in a profession that I am passionate about, I have a wonderful and beautiful girlfriend (whom I would likey not have met if it were not for sports), and I have opportunities that will take me further in life.

I hope to use this blog for random updates not only related to sport, but other things that intrigue me such as finance, travel, and what is going on in the world we live in. It won't be another year before I post again, hopefully.

To the people that have supported me, listened to me, and taken the time to read this blog I say a big thank you.

Thanks for reading,

Kamal

Nationals report

This is a loooonnng post, sorry if it’s a little boring!

So after my third and final race of the year I have some searching to do. This year has not followed the path that I was hoping it would. I have not only raced less than I had hoped to, but I did not reach my goals.

For the most part, things had been going really well in cycling throughout the year, running was improving (until an injury at the end of April), and swimming was fairly stagnant. As of about the middle of June I started to notice changes in my energy levels on the bike in particular. It frustrated me to no end and on some workouts I was so annoyed with it that I just about threw the bike. I missed Coteau-du-Lac at the end of June because training was not going well, and then the same thing for San Francisco in July. I then missed a week-long training camp in the middle of July.

What happened is not documented in bloodwork and so therefore apparently unknown to some degree - I hit a wall, not literally. It was extremely frustrating to be told that it was mental and that sort of criticism was not beneficial. For the entire month of July I was pretty much sleeping 11-12 hours a night and then waking up dead tired. I would miss workouts or go to a workout and have to drop out early. It felt as though as soon as my heart rate was elevated I was done, nothing left in the tank. So, I ended up taking about 2 weeks almost completely off. By the beginning of August I really had to make a decision on whether I was racing Kelowna or not. In hindsight I still think I made the best choice to do it. For the 3 weeks leading up to Kelowna I started with 1 workout a day and gradually managed to get 2 done a day. I still found that big days would leave me exhausted for about 2 days after.

I raced the sprint at Sooke, which went as poorly as it could have gone. I had a very flat bike with no energy to climb through the rollers and subsequently I placed 7^th or 8^th. This race was to see where I was at in terms of my recovery from being so exhausted for so many weeks, and to see where my fitness lay.

So coming into nationals I was well aware that I was not there to be competitive at the level I had hoped for, but really my goal was to get out the swim and onto the bike, and then from the bike to the run, and from the run to the finish. It was interesting to see the nervous faces on some of the men around me. It reminded me of how I was last year, but this time around I was ready to get out there and have fun! I had number 35 and so had a decent start position, a good start, and then faded back to a sluggish swim. The run from swim exit to transition was tough, mentally and physically, because I knew that I would have to stay with the other guys getting onto the bike, but my body was rebelling and guys started flying by me. Onto the bike I didn’t get into my shoes until I was up with 3 or 4 other guys, but I really struggled to find any strength on the hill and was dropped immediately. I was unable to help on the bike and was passed by others that got out the swim minutes back of me. I tried to hold it off, but on my 4^th lap the motorbike caught me and pulled me out the race.

Watching the lead group go by was tough as I felt deflated knowing that for another year I had a DNF to my name. At the same time, I know that I gave every ounce of energy that I had and it wasn’t enough. Last year I psyched myself out the race and it frustrated me. Between not being 100% again and not being as fit as I should have been, there was nothing left in the tank. However, the added corners this year on the bike course were a lot of fun and I found myself taking more risks than I would normally just to try to stay away from the bright lights of the motorbike.

I have been given really helpful advice from a lot of people. I was told by somebody that I “deserve better” as he had seen the progress I was making on the bike earlier in the year. I know that with the progress I made in the early months of this year, I could have had a good race and to hear that validated by an impartial individual was extremely gratifying and gave me a little more drive to get back to Victoria and figure the next few months out.

For now, it’s time to get back on track and find that consistency in training again. I am pretty excited to do some cyclocross racing and cross-country racing this fall – just making training fun. I think nationals are back in Kelowna next year – 3^rd time’s a charm, right?

Full results from this weekend found here. If you look at the swim times of those that finished and mine, you'll see that if I had the strength on the bike then it likely would not have been a DNF finish! I can't wait for next year so that I can smile crossing that finish line :)

Make or break time

The last month and a bit has been a little of a downer but my body needed the rest. The last week I have had a training schedule and have been trying to get the workouts done. The biggest problem is getting any sort of speed back, and fitness is obviously a bit of an issue. I want to race Kelowna and pulling out at this point (which I thought about lots throughout the month of July) would be stupid. I've put so much work in over the winter and beginning of the year to let it slide away. Yes, it hasn't exactly been the year I was hoping for and training for, but I want to salvage something in 2 and a half weeks at nationals.

So, this weekend I'll see where I am as I've signed up for the sprint in Sooke. It will be my second race of the year...yep, that's right, SECOND. At least I will get a chance to practice my transitions and just try and give'r.

That's all for now. I'll update at the end of the month!