YAY!

I don't know why, but I get extreme satisfaction from seeing pictures of my contest prizes on other people's blogs.

First it was Ham in the UK with his Canadian Tire money won in the Obstructionist Art Contest.

Now it is Big Oak receiving his Maple Syrup from FARATS.

YAY!

That is all.

R A N T W I C K

Cast Away A Canuck! Help London's Chris Ellison Get On CBS' Survivor

Despite the way I often bash TV, I still watch quite a bit of it. I am particularly fond of The Office (US version) and much to my chagrin, Survivor.

I heard a snippet on CBC Radio this morning highlighting the efforts of a London Ontario man to get on Survivor as a contestant / castaway. Thus far there has been an "Americans only" policy in selecting people for the show. Anyway this guy Chris Ellison really wants on and is petitioning CBS and Mark Burnett to try to get there. When I heard him on the radio he seemed a well-spoken, good natured, non-crackpot Canadian and I wanted to do my part to help if I could.

His petition site will no doubt get lots of support from locals and other Canadians, but I am posting this because most of my readers are Americans and my hope is that if the show is catering to American viewing appetites (naturally), votes from people in the US might be extra helpful. So if you have a spare moment, check out the main web site here and if you are so inclined, fill out the online petition here. I mean, can you think of any situation, real, reality-themed, surreal or whatever kind of real you want that wouldn't be improved by adding a Canadian to the mix? I can't.

See? This guy is totally Survivor material.

original undoctored picture source

Good luck, Mr. Ellison! I know you can do it. Eye of the Tiger man, Eye of the Tiger.

Thanks, as always, for reading my blog.

R A N T W I C K

OPD - Ortlieb Pannier Disorder

Some of you may know this already, but I have something of an unhealthy obsession with Ortlieb Panniers. I have blogged at each stage of what I now consider my Ortlieb Pannier Disorder.

It began with researching Ortlieb Pannier fabrics and their relative merits and environmental implications...

Then I got all freaked out about their different pricing in various countries...

Then, once I had the panniers, I began obsessing about properly closing them leaving no creases without the shoulder strap, so much so that I developed a hack in order to do so and used up 2 posts worth of your precious time telling you about it:

After writing that post I knew I was getting WAY too interested in the tiny details of simply using a bicycle saddle bag. I mean, who cares, right? Well apparently I do, because yesterday I followed a link on bikesnobNYC that went to pedal strap maker Hold Fast's web site.

Instead of appreciating the nice bikes in the picture, my eyes were immediately drawn to the Ortlieb Pannier. The first thing I noticed was that it was done up very poorly (at least by my OPD standards). Second, it contained something sort of oddly "pokey".

Just for the record:

Now as far as the "pokey" nature of the pannier in question, it just makes me curious.

What could it be in there? A bong perhaps?

Author's Note: When faced with a mysterious object, I always guess "bong" first. They come in such a wide variety of shapes and sizes that it is never a bad guess. Also, it is just fun to say the word "bong".

A dreaded attack squirrel?

I could be anything! Except maybe a book or a loaf of bread. They don't have pokey bits. I welcome your guesses as to the contents of that bag. Whatever is in there, I like to think the bike and bag belong to this this guy:

pic source

That way it could be like a pannier version of pets looking like their owners! Umm, I think I had better stop now and take a nap or something. I hope I don't dream of pokey, poorly closed panniers...

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K