What do I do in my free time? The obvious answer is that I get to spend lots of time with my very wonderful wife and children. We’ve gone from spending our evenings playing Rook for two, MindTrap, Mancala, You Know It, and other similar trivia games to chasing down the young terrorists and getting them into bed.
Scuba Diving
My newest favorite activity is blowing bubbles beneath the surface. Whether it be shore dives and deep wrecks off Boston or cave diving in Mexico, I absolutely love to explore a world that is largely unexplored. The most mind blowing dive to date was the exploration in a Mexican cave where I was able to lay new line about 1.5 miles in – exploring where no human being has been before. Closer to home, you can find me out with Captain Fran on the Daybreaker exploring the many wrecks off New England. In some ways, I prefer the harsh northern waters near home where only those who truly love to dive are splashing topside.
Hockey
The only activity you will find me doing twice every week is hockey. After playing hockey in Ottawa for six years, I’ve found both a pick-up and official league here in Hudson where I can bang the puck around early on Monday and Thursday mornings. I remain an avid fan of the Ottawa Senators and continue to follow them despite their up and down play-off performances. The one downside about this area is that my days of waking at 05:00 in the morning for that game on outdoor rock hard ice are over. Boston simply does not have the rinks or the people that can be found in my frozen country to the north. It remains much to my embarrassment that Heidi’s favorite team is New Jersey. 🙂
Snowboarding
I have been snowboarding now for at least 20 years though I’m not sure when the first time I strapped on the ol’ Black Snow Legend was. I currently ride a Santa Cruz X-treme 162 directional free-ride board which I’m very excited about. I also use the new Flow binding system. After riding about half dozen boards and several types of bindings including the K2 Clicker SSTs, and other soft and hard bindings, I think I have the winning combination.
Motorbikes
My bikes have been many and varied. My first bike, a Honda Rebel 250, was purchased as soon as I turned eighteen years old. After riding this bike for one year, I purchased a Yamaha Virago 750. This bike was my primary mode of transport for four years, taking me on many trips including one non-stop 27 hour trip from Nova Scotia to Columbus, OH. Again, my desire to upgrade brought me to my third bike, April 22, 1999, a Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird. This was a bright metallic blue and drove like a dream, the ultimate sports touring bike. I took this bike from Atlantic Ocean to Pacific, North to South, Seattle to Mexico, and back to Ottawa once more. Unfortunately, I only had this bike for six months and on November 1, 1999, a garbage truck pulled out in front of me. My bike was not so fortunate as I was.
Thankfully, insurance was able to cover the cost of a new bike, and I replaced by 1999 XX with the exact same bike in 2000. I ride nearly so much (my car takes me to work and back), but I still love to take it out sometimes and feel the wind through my hair. If you see a guy with a smile and a wave going by, that would be me. Smile and wave back.