Nick Ends BICK Junior Golf Tour Season

On Tuesday August 10, the last stop of the BICK Junior Golf Tour ended on the old and venerable Dundas Valley Golf Course.  Nick arrived early to warm up on the range; unfortunately, the results were not what he had hoped for as he ended with a 90 ... good for a very disappointing 38th for the day and 27th for the tour (452.5 points).  Ben got his start time mixed up and arrived late.  He was accommodated but the mix up likely affected his game as he ended with a 92 which was good for 41st for the day and 26th for the tour (452.83 points).  Ben finished as the top 6th rookie followed by Nick in 7th.  Unfortunately, both Nick and Ben missed the exempt cut for the 2012 tour ... the cut line was the 23rd tour position at 495 points.  It was a good learning experience and one of the goal will be to work on consistency and focus.  In summary, his season as compared to brother Matt is as follows:
Nick's 2010 Season                   Brother Matt's 2007 Season  
Qualifier  Chedoke           84        Qualifier  Chedoke            78
Stop 1     Southbrook      98        Stop 1     Chippewa         84
Stop 2     Copetown        90        Stop 2     Sotuhern Pine   70
Stop 3     Chippewa         76        Stop 3     Renton            74
Stop 4     Flamborough     82        Stop 4     Burlington        84
Stop 5     Lowville           82        Stop 5     Tyandaga  cancelled
Stop 6     Deerfield          81        Stop 6     Copetown        80
Stop 7     Dundas Valley   90        Stop 7     Hamilton          86
Tour Total                    599        Tour Total                    478
Tour Average                85.6       Tour Average                79.7
SDev                            7.4        SDev                            5.8


67% of the time, Nick would shoot between 78 and 93 while Matt would shoot 74 and 86

In 2007, Matt finished around 22-23 for the tour and his dream year 2008 to do well was scrapped because of a broken shoulder clavicle.

Nick and Cousin David at Uplands Golf Course

While Patrick was doing his thing on "Think Big", Nick had a chance to catch up with cousin David.  They spent an afternoon hitting the links at David's "home" course, Uplands which is situated just north of Toronto.  Grandmother was there also to greet them on the finishing hole.

More pics are on the MVP photo site

Patrick A Film Star????

From Thursday August 5th to Friday August 6th, Patrick was in Toronto at the York University's Centre of Film Arts Studios to film a TVO's Think Big series.  He was there with a selection of young students to do a series on Young Inventors.  Pat's recent success at the CWSF made him a consideration for casting a month ago. He made the cut so we hope to see him soon on the small screen. The series is due to be on air sometimes in Spring 2011.  More on this when we hear about the schedule.

Stage Mom Julie was there to deliver Patrick to the set.

Ben and Nick Update on the BICK Junior Golf Tour

Hoping to carry their good play from Stop 3 back on July 19 at Chippewa Creek, both Ben and Nick were optimistic of moving up the rankings given that Stop 4 was being held on their home course of Flamborough Golf Course on Thursday July 29. Weather was phenomenal but below average putting countered Nick's home course advantage as he shot a very disappointing 82, good for 24th and dropping him 3 spots to 25th for the tour to date. Ben shot an 81 which was good for 20th and maintaining him at 24th for the the tour.

Stop 5 of the tour moved to the Burlington area at Lowville Golf Club on Tuesday August 3.  The scenery with the backdrop of  the Niagara escarpment was spectacular  ... unfortunately that was not the case with Nick's game.  A promising +4 for the first nine withered away in the heat and humidity to a final 87.  The score ranked 31st for the round; Nick falls to 27th for the tour with 335 points.  Perhaps the previous 3 days of the Club Championships had their deterioating effects.  On the other hand, Ben shot a fantastic 79, good for 14th for the round which moved him to 22nd for the tour with 400 points.

Based on prior years' average of 640 points to make the Top 15 Exempt list, both Nick and Ben would need a tournament win at one of the remaining two stops or a couple of top 7 finishes in order to make the Exempt list for 2011.

Carolyn Turns Seventeen

Freshly back from her month long SHAD experience out at UBC, Carolyn was kind to grace us with her presence for her 17th birthday.

I can still remember bringing her home, this new round butterball in our new Dodge minivan.

Julie's Martyrs Mom Finishes Second ...

Julie's 2010 Edition of Martyrs Mom finished two months of weekly training and culminated the effort with the Row 4 Heart Regatta held on Saturday July 24th at Bayfront park.  Buoyed by their new uniforms and the return of their coxie, Carolyn who just returned from a month long stint at SHAD UBC, the team turned in a great effort.

They finished second ... 

The Lost Generation ... Inspiration to Change

Here's a You Tube vid that I got courtesy from one of Carolyn's fellow SHAD ... Think about it!  And I learned a new word ... palindromic.

Carolyn and Jane at UBC

Today, Carolyn had the fortune to have received a visit from Aunt Jane and Sue and Rob.  Carolyn was at her SHAD's closing luncheon and her visitors were her guests at the event.  We were so pleased that some family was there to experience along with Carolyn.

Much thanks to Jane for sending this picture almost as it was happening.

Another Ossie Mind Teaser

Ossie sent this in for us to enjoy(?) ...

Read out loud the text inside the triangle below. 

 

More than likely you said, 'A bird in the bush,'! and. ......  

if this IS what YOU said, then you failed to see 
that the word THE is repeated twice! 
Sorry, look again. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Count every '  F  ' in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE 
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI 
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH 
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE 
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI 
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH 
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...  

(SEE BELOW) 

HOW MANY ? 
WRONG, THERE ARE  6   -- no joke. 
READ IT AGAIN ! 
Really, go Back and Try to find the 6 F's before you scroll down. 
 
The reasoning behind is further down. 
The brain cannot process 'OF'. 
   
Incredible or what? Go back and look again!! 
Anyone who counts all 6 'F's' on the first go is a genius.   
                   
Three is normal, four is quite rare.  

Nick and Ben Hits Top Ten on BICK Tour

Finally, Nick and Ben played like they believe they are capable of. Stop 3 of the BICK Junior Golf Tour was held at Chippewa Golf Club in Mount Hope on Monday July 19.  Weather was a lot more confortable and so were the boys' games.  They finally shot what they believe to be their best (and hopefully typical) game.  Nick was on fire and shot a 76 which tied him for 5th while Ben shot a 79 which was good for 11th.  Nick had a +1 going into the 18th but a DB did him in.  Hoping for a birdie to get a Par round, he stretched his 220 yard approach which landed him in a trap.  With the fine showing, Nick shot up the rankings from 40th to 22nd with 226 points while Ben holds 24th place with 217 points.  They also sit 8th and 9th respectively in the rookies standings.

more pics, here

July 18th, 2010: Our Will Hits the BIG TWO OH

Well, I cannot believe it but Will reached his 20th birthday this past Sunday.  It was made especially special because his Uncle Bruce came to return cousin Ross from their golf outing and was there to celebrate the birthday cake with all of us.  The relevance of this comes from the fact that Bruce along with Grammie were there initially at Will's entrance into the world.  And oh yes, Mom and Dad were there too.

JULY 18, 2010

Careful What You Read on the Web - The Two Moons are Apparitions

Just a short while back, I was sent an email by Oz to post for everyone to benefit from.  Presumably, he received it from someone and like Oz, I was excited to relay it along.  I could not copy the picture from his initial email and went Googling to find the image.  In doing so, I stumbled onto a seemingly legitimate source that debunked the content of Oz's email.  It appears that the email is but a hoax email that has been floating around since the year 2000.  Read here to chronicle the history of this hoax email.


Lesson learned ... keep a little cynicism when reviewing internet content!


                                    THIS IS THE HOAX EMAIL

Hope the skies are clear where you are on August 27th, 2010.

                    Two moons on 27th August 2010

27th Aug the Whole World is waiting for............. Planet Mars will be the brightest in the night sky starting August.  It will look as large as the full moon to the naked eye.  This will cultivate on August 27 when Mars comes 34.65M miles off earth.  Be sure to watch the sky on Aug 27 12:30 am.  It will look like the earth has 2 moons. The next time Mars may come this close is 2287. Share this with your friends as NO ONE ALIVE TODAY will ever see it again.

Test Podcast 2

The Boys Are With Carolyn in Spirit

Carolyn's Blog on her SHAD experience (http://carolynshadvalley.blogspot.com/) has kept us all well-informed. Her latest picture in her blog placing her at Lake Horne in BC made us wish we were there as well.  So much so that with the magic of modern technology, I sent the boys out there as well for a quick visit.

Wonderful Days at Sauble Beach

Thanks to Greg and Jane, the two junior Chongs were able to enjoy two days at Sauble Beach.  With 40+ degree temperatures and a sizzling sun, the soupy warm beach water was a welcomed relief.

Will had just spent four days of baking in the sun at the same beach just previous to our two days.

The pictures tells it all.

Matthew Gets Position at Open Text

We are pleased to announce that Matthew received the good news that has him being offered a position with Open Text.  The latter has the distinction of being the largest Canadian software company.  Matthew will be working out of the Waterloo headquarters for the September to December term.

Nick Starts BICK Financial Junior Golf Tour

The 2010 BICK Finanical Golf Tour began on Tuesday June 29.  The seven stop tour started at Southbrook Golf Course.

Pictures will be stored on the MVPFoto site. and tour updates are available on http://hamiltonhaltonjuniorgolftour.org/

Martyrs Mom's Maiden Voyage for Heart and Stroke

Julie rounded up Moms of past Canadian Martyrs students and formed a crew to row for Heart and Strokes.  The team of Julie, Kelly Kariam, Rose Hill, Lynn Sartori, Carolyn Viveros, Liz Jones, Linda Herrera, Darlene Morgan, Irene and Olivia Petric practises weekly at the Leander Boat Club in preparation of their July 24th Regatta.  The crew is coxied by the team of Carolyn Chong and Christine Yee.

A picture gallery is being kept at http://mvpfotography.smugmug.com/Rowing/Martyrs-Mom-Rowing-2010/12863315_ALXEv

Carolyn's St. Marys Rowing Team Recaptures City Championship

This past Saturday, Carolyn's St. Marys Rowing Team recaptured their City Championship.  Having lost it to arch rival, Westdale last year after 13 straight Championship year, it took a whole year to recover from the disappointment.  The team virtually wrestled it back from Westdale by the narrowest of margin .... 353-348.

More pics

Nick Receives His Bishop's Award

Every year, our diocese's Bishop honours the service his altar servers from Oakville to Hamilton.  Nick like his preceding sibs received his award at Christ the King Cathedral on Tuesday May 25th.  Our honourable Bishop Tonnos oversaw this 27th annual event.

Patrick Wins GOLD ... Best in Canada

We're so proud to announce that today Patrick was awarded the GOLD MEDAL for the Best Junior Engineering Project at the CWSF in Peterborough.  There is only ONE given and our Patrick was the fortunate one to receive it.  That means he's the BEST in Canada.  I can't believe that it happened and it is just settling in that he won.  Nearly 500 students from across Canada competed in 9 different categories (one of which is Engineering) and only one GOLD, 2 SILVER and 3 BRONZE are given in each of these categories for Juniors (grades 7-8), Intermediates (grades 9-10) and Seniors (grades 11-12).  There are 9 potential Junior Gold Medals offered up and some categories did not even have projects that merited it being awarded.

For his achievement, Patrick received a GOLD MEDAL, $1,500 Cash and a $10,000 Scholarship to any University in Canada (oops, May 26 editor addendum: we were misinformed, Patrick's division's GOLD MEDAL is awarded a $4,000 scholarship ... only the Environment Innovation division had the unique $10,000 scholarships).  Of the 9 divisions, 7 (?) qualify for the Best Junior Project in Fair.  We're not sure how Patrick fared in this particular competition but the winner received a further $5,000 in cash ... something to shoot for next year in grade 8.

more pics

Congratulations, Patrick!

Patrick Off to CWSF in Peterborough

Today, Paddy left with his Team BASEF 2010 for Peterborough for the week long CWSF competition.  More information about the Fair is available at http://www.cwsf2010.ca/   We wish Patrick luck at the competition.

He will be keeping a personal Blog of his exploits http://passingtimewithpat.blogspot.com/  and we hope to hear lots from him.

But the TEAM BASEF 2010 is also keeping a Blog of the Team's exploits on http://basef-at-cwsf-2010.blogspot.com/ and is updating regularly with pictures on their Flickr Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/team-basef/4610594550/in/photostream/   We'll be keeping an eye for Patrick.

The CWSF is also keeping a Photo site as well http://www.cwsf.ca/2010/index.php

True Asians Have NO Red-Eyes

A curious observation evolved out of some pictures I took of our kids at some recent events.  The pictures were of some of our kids with their fellow tennis and badminton teammates.  It became apparent from the pictures that had a sampling of Asians and non-Asians that the Asians did not respond to flash photography in producing red-eyes.  Coach G will have to explain herself.  Have a look ... ,  Click on the picture for a full screen view.

Nick at GHAC Tennis and Badminton Championships

St. Marys is reviving their tennis team and as Nick has been so keen to do in his first high school year ... he has volunteered to join, this being his 5th school sports team.  Despite not having a tennis racquet in his hand in over 5 years, he did quite reasonably well playing Boys Doubles at the Region's GHAC Tennis Championships. Unfortunately, his team got ousted in the first round.  click here for more pictures (password is "tennis")

Two days later, he's at it again as he tries his hand at Badminton ... results to come.

In Boys Singles, Nick won his first match handily and was given a bye right to the 3rd round.  Unfortunately, he succumbed to a BT opponent.  However, given a little more training, I am sure he would have advanced further.

more pics here

Patrick Receives a Board's Director Award

We're happy to announce that like his sibs before him, Patrick has been honoured by receiving one of the School Board's Director of Education Award.  He received it for his work in Science.  The awards are issued annually with each school choosing their winners and being so honoured individually by the Director of Education at the Boards Head Office.  Patrick is here pictured with the Director, Pat Amos.

Ossie Wants Us All to Read This ... "The Brick"

THE BRICK

Are these For Real?

Are these for real or have they been Photoshop'ed?  Ossie sent me to share with everyone.  I have my doubts ....

What Is This Tree?

Ossie wanted these pictures of the house across from us.  It has a tree that is not on the Island and he wanted to show it to his friends.

Does anyone know what it is?