From the town Soon to be Renamed 'Harperville'?

He asked to be described as ‘tall enough to party’. I’m not really sure what that means, whether he’s implying that short people can’t party or if he’s trying to insinuate something associated with being tall. This is his first year rowing for Western, which seems fairly logical given that this is also his first year at Western. Hailing from the capital of Canada, he has been rowing for quite a while and is currently gunning for a place on team Ontario for Canada Summer Games this summer. He chose not to respond to the questionnaire for the athlete bios, so I am working with whatever information I can creep/glean from facebook, and that’s pretty much it. Being from the Ottawa rowing club, he is likely to overdo it a Henley and enter himself in something like 7 events. Not specifically referring to him in that one. I have just been informed that he looks like one of the characters from Warm Bodies. He, like Matt, deeply enjoys waffle creations. Some say that . . . , ah fuck it, it’s Andre.

A local Tobacco Farmer

This athlete recent voted (according to her facebook profile picture). She firmly believes that a day in which matching socks are worn is a day which has been wasted. This trait makes her easy to spot in a crowd because her shoes, socks and other apparel are all likely to be pretty vibrantly coloured. A member of a significant minority, she is studying engineering here at Western. Originally, she comes from the small town just outside of London, known as mount Brydges where she grew up in a tobacco farm. This is lucky for her because it means she just escapes the label of being a ‘townie’. Unfortunately, it means she lives in a tiny little town. She was recruited off the track team to come and start rowing – and by recruited I mean poached but that’s just semantics. She enjoys being in engineering because she enjoys being surrounded by boys. Her facebook page seems to have an odd number of selfie style pictures takes with one Caleb McCleary. Some say that if she owned a wireless company, she too would urge the CRTC to take it’s time with new regulations owing to the fact that her companies contracts give her legal rights to all their clients coloured socks; and that if you give her an important job to do, she’ll skive off and play croquet. All we know is, it’s Kristen Bujnowski!

She's On The Hunt For Honey Boo Boo

After escaping the French speaking land they call Quebec, she lived in Richmond Hill for a while, before moving on to become a local about a year ago. She enjoys running, playing Frisbee and apparently having her belly rubbed. She has numerous athletic achievements, such as being the self-proclaimed world champion of the 50m sprint to catch the bus (this fact is unverified by the Guinness book of World Records at time of publishing). Another thing which she has self-proclaimed for herself is ‘Queen of the lawn grass’ I’m not quite sure what that means, mowing the lawn, lying on the grass or what?  She is hoping to chase down the ever elusive Honey Boo Boo while we are in Georgia. I say ever elusive, but that may not quite be true as after all she does have a TV show. Some say that she has an aptitude for sitting in snow banks and that much to the dismay of the UN Security Council, she has also been conducting her own nuclear testing.  All I know is, she’s Katherine Jones.

Back to athlete bios

This athlete is one of the ones who makes all the TID coaches in the land get really excited. Measuring in at something like 50 jars of peanut butter tall (or potentially 51, that’s up for debate), she is known for pulling on the erg like a heavy man. My theory on this is that it could be due to over-enjoyment of the movie Remember the Titans. A good way to describe her is evolving, having used to be a swimmer she recently crawled out of the water and into a boat, so my theory is that her next sport will be something to do with flying.  Having truly adopted a kinesiology student sort of attitude, she says that ideally she would spend her evenings at either kiwi kraze or bulk barn wearing sweats, as opposed to jeans, or Canada Goose jackets, of Lulu pants or Uggs. Some say that she only knows two facts about ducks and both of them are wrong. And that if she had directed Jurassic Park she would have had the T-Rex win. All we know is, it’s Lenore!

All I Want is Braveheart and a Beer

Two score and four years ago, this waffle loving, wake making, Western attending, wacky, fun loving guy was born. He professes his ideal evening to be spent doing nothing but petting a pot-bellied pig named Hamlet. However, those of us who know him well enough to be his facebook friends would probably agree that he also enjoys a good screening of Braveheart while drinking beer. Seriously, I’ve seen this same status something like 3 times in the last couple months. His favorite dinosaur is the Ankylosaurus, I don’t really have a joke for that one; but at least you learned something from reading this post right?  Preferring not to brag about his personal athletic achievements, he responded to the question “most notable athletic achievement” with ‘I think I went to the gym yesterday’. On the other hand, I do happen to know that he plays a mean game of beer pong and has an aptitude for chugging Guinness. He has been referred to as a real Mario Andretti behind the wheel of a car. Some say that he thought Star Wars was a documentary, and that he likes his athletes to take their oars down to the dock 6 hours before the race. All I know is, he’s coach Matt Waddell.

I had a post title, but it got hacked

Measuring a whopping 0.0010606061 miles high, she is an athletic force to be reckoned with, whose almost best known achievement was winning the 2012 beer Olympics on an all female novice team. As a lightweight rower, the thing which she is most looking forward to during the upcoming trip to the USA is eating at Chipotle. She was on the trip last year where her random shotgun obsession came to light. I’m not going to elaborate on that one. Ideally, she would find herself sitting in a onesie (aka snuggie) watching the bachelor.  Some say that she once hacked into her own facebook account and that in her wallet, she keeps a photo of her wallet. All I know is, her name is Jill.

This post would have been longer. However, it seems that her facebook profile was hacked yet again, and so instead of finding useful information there, all I found was a tidbit about her bowel regularity.  The next status update also had a rather fishy nature, I believe it was something along the lines of going to a Monday class ‘au natural’ if the post gets liked enough times. So I went further back in statuses, trying to find something of relevance. Unfortunately, no such luck, yet again another hacked, but most definitely entertaining status.

The picture, similar to the picture from my description is of her passed out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find another one I wanted to use. So here we go, another sleeping picture.

The Most Definitely Not Self Serving Autobiography

Today I am starting the team introductions, with my own. As per last year, one of the things I have been most anticipating is the opportunity to write this blog yet again. I was going to say that I will try my best to not make this blog post self-serving, and then realized that I will just do that. After all, we do or do not, as opposed to trying. Clocking in at a whopping 11.3 Stone and 188 000 000 nm tall, sporting an exploded appendix  and originally hailing from the fabled ‘best coast’, I now spend most of my time in London (the one where the Queen does not live). I only row in high definition, ideally near or under bridges; or other items of civil engineering merit. Ever questing for the All-Spark. Some say that I have recently been releasing pop records under the pseudonym of Lady Gaga, and that under my unisuit, there’s another unisuit. All we know is, I’m not called the Stig. I am quite excited to jump in my car and Roll Out for Georgia.

Hey y'all! Read This!

Welcome to the blog for the Western Mustangs reading week Georgia training camp. No, we are not yet in Georgia. Our planned departure is on the 16th of February, when it's actually reading week. Over the next couple weeks, until we leave I hope to be able to post highly detailed, accurate, serious and not at all funny blog entries describing each of us who are planning on heading down there. This year, the blog will be different than last year, as opposed trying to be funny and lighthearted, the blog will be serious and only report the most uninteresting and highly uninteresting details of the trip. One exciting example to look forward to is an in depth description of how they cast the concrete in the interstate system we drive on while driving down there. So if you're looking for a fun to read blog, I'm afraid you're SOL this time. Not. Rest assured I will endeavor to be as entertaining and fun to read as an engineering student can be.

Anyway, we're all getting super excited to head on down the Waffle House express way, also known as I-75,  on the way down to the homeland of Honey Boo Boo. As a way to get ready for the trip, many of us were competing at the Canadian Indoor Rowing Championship yesterday, there is a link to a summarizing video below. Is there a video in the first blog post this year? Yes, yes there is - and should be many more to come during the trip, get excited.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFn3t6RwVug