Ok, so it wasn't really "Bring your dog to work day"... but I brought mine anyway.  Scully accompanied me to rehearsal today, so she wouldn't be alone in the house all day.  Kevin LOVES dogs.  When they're around he immediately starts speaking a language no human (or dog) could possibly understand.  They seem to love him back.  Robin (Our front of house sound guy) was kind enough to bring in some dog biscuits for Scully, having gone home to grab something.  He placed the biscuits in front of Kev, and said "These are DOG biscuits".  Well, Ol' Kev was quite wrapped up in the discussion we were all having about what to call this record.  For some reason I took on the tone of the narrator of one of those old school Disney wildlife features.  That tone is gone now.  Sorry.  We may have decided on a title by the way... not telling.  Ok, back to the story.  Kev begins absent mindedley crunching away at the dog biscuits, then looks in his hand, and asks "Are these dog treats???!!!".  Robin says while laughing "Yes! I TOLD you that!!!", which Kev denies.  And then says genuinely, "They're not bad, actually".  I think he didn't ask until the second one!

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 Spike Jonze took a masterpiece, and made it in to a masterpiece.  I just took my kids to see the Spike Jonze/Dave Eggers adaptation of the timeless Maurice Richard… Damn, I knew I was going to do that!  Maurice SENDAK book, “Where the Wild Things Are”.  It’s always a risk to take something that people have such strong attachments to, and change it in ANY way.  This adaptation was obviously done with love, respect, admiration, and a genuine sense of fun, and imagination.  I recommend it to anybody who likes things that are fun.

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 Dumbfounded.  Grateful.  Lucky.  Insane.  I don't even know how to describe how I feel about the day I had yesterday.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to join The Snowbirds (The Canadian Forces Demonstration Team) for a ride in a CT-114 Tutor.  The ride I was offered was their early morning "Media Ride".  It's a chance for the local TV and radio folks to ride along, and get some great footage to promote the Toronto Air Show.  It is a formation ride for about an hour around the city of Toronto.  To fly in tight formation at 300 NM/h around some beautiful scenery (Niagara Falls, and the Toronto skyline etc) was breathtaking.  The precision of the team was stunning.  My pilot, Capt. Christian Dallamore ("Dilly") is one of the "solos" in the show.  Which means he does all the really crazy stuff.  He knew I'd been in a CF-18 Hornet, and had a pretty insane ride, so he was apologetic that he couldn't really show me what the plane could do during the media flight.  I kept stressing that the formation flying was astounding to me, and that I was just thrilled to be flying with the best of the best pilots in Canada.  

In case you're wondering, these aren't stock shots of the Snowbirds, these were snapped YESTERDAY by Ken Lin from the chase plane!!!  That's me in the number 9 plane riding left seat!!

Eventually, I got tired of hearing Dilly apologize for a ride that I was TOTALLY thrilled about... So, when the lead pilot (Maj. Chris Bard) asked me (In front of Dilly) what I thought of the ride, I said, "I thought you guys were a high performance team, not the Anne Murray song!?!??"  Well, that crack, and a small performance for the team got me on the teams "Practice" flight.  Which is the entire air show routine flown the day before the show!!!  

I can't describe what it was like to be in that plane for that flight.  Thrilling, frightening, exhilarating... and VERY strenuous.  It took all of my energy to simply remain conscious, and not black out during the high G maneuvers.  We pulled 6 Gs A LOT, and negative 2.5 Gs too!!  It was simply the craziest flying I've ever experienced.  I did my best to film a bunch of it from the cockpit, but I was being slammed around pretty good in there.  The Hornet has Speed Jeans (inflatable bladder pants that assist your body in keeping the blood in your head, so you don't blackout), but the Tutor is strictly old-school.  You just have to cowboy up, do your anti-G straining maneuver, and work your ass off.  Dilly was amazing, and gave me good warning before every high G maneuver.  The entire team seemed shocked that I didn't pass out or puke during the routine.  Please don't tell them I'm still tired today!!

One of the highlights for me were the high speed crosses with Mark LaVerdiere ("Happy").  Flying straight at each other at a closing speed of about 1200 km/h, and crossing within 20 feet of another plane is a little beyond unnerving (Let alone the mixture of measurement units!!... sorry, but that's how I think.  Child of the 70s in Canada.  My ruler had both units!).  

I can't thank the Snowbirds enough for a day I never dreamed would come.  I've had so many dreams come true now... it's gettin' to be ri-goddam-diculous!  I feel like I'm stealing other peoples dreams now too!!  As excited as I am about my day yesterday, I feel profoundly guilty that I couldn't have brought along my flight instructors, and all my aviation buddies, who would give anything to have been in that seat.  Sorry guys.  I suck... I know.

Another thrill was getting the chance to talk to Canadian Astronaut, Col. Chris Hadfield again. The Colonel gave BnL a fantastic tour of mission control in Houston years ago, and has attended a few BnL shows over the years (Plus he plays our music on the International Space Station!!!).  Chris was along for the practice flight as well, and had nothing but great things to say about the team post flight.  He started his short eloquent speech with, "Guys, I've flow really high, and really fast".  How high folks? TRY OUTER FRIGGIN SPACE AT 28,000 KM/H!!!!! 

So, thank you Snowbirds.  You just made my already fantastic life! I am keenly aware that I have been a very fortunate guy, and days like yesterday exceed my ability to make sense of my incredible life.

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We now have 18 tracks mixed by Bob Clearmountain!  We finished tracking last Friday, and Bob was hot on our heels with the mixes. He was already mixing tracks we'd finished earlier, while we forged ahead to finish the rest. He would have passed us for sure if we hadn't had some shipping delays getting him the raw materials. Bob really brought the songs to life. We knew he would.  I am so frickin excited about these new songs... well, it's ridiculous.  I can not wait to get them out to the world.  In fact I may not.  I may just post them all in a euphoric haze.  So far, the feedback from the tracks has been incredible.  The few close pals I've handed them to are freaking out.  It's a very nice feeling.  After tracking Friday, Ty hopped in to my plane with me, and we flew up to my cottage where our families were waiting.  We had a great weekend of BBQ, and boating (God's Combo).  It was Ty's first time in my plane, and he didn't seem freaked out about the fact that we flew right over my crash site for the approach to the lake... Thanks for the confidence Ty!  The record release plan is falling in to place now.  I can't wait to be playing all of this stuff live.  We've been playing a bunch of new songs at the handful of shows we've been doing.  It's just where our heads are right now.  So much fun.  It's going to be be really cool, and challenging readopting a bunch of the old material too.  So far, we've just been winging it, but when we manage to slot in a few reheawwrwii... rehwaahhhh... rehearsaaaaaaahhhh.  See, BnL is sort of like Fonzie.  He can't say sorry, and we can't do that thing where you get together, and actually run through some of your songs!!  We will though, and then it's going to be killer.  We have lots of cool plans already.  I'm going to go jump in the lake while it's not raining for 15 mins!

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