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Ah, Russia. Traditionally, the most entertaining leg of The Amazing Race. At least that I can remember. The teams had a choice between two ridiculously difficult tasks as the detour: picking 3 pieces of classical music being played among dozens or finding a film clip from thousands of pieces of film roll on the cutting room floor. Amazingly, the teams struggled more with the music. From there, it was off to dress up as babushkas and plant potatoes. Quite entertaining. Jill and Thomas finished first. Nick and Vicki came in last but were spared elimination as it was another non-elimination leg. Next week: The circus is in town.

Just expanding my mobile blogging options. I had the free Lite version and it was fine, but the full version was on sale and it includes more robust media linking options, including video straight from your phone plus hypertext linking . YouTube Video

Unlike all the other epic fails on here, this one is actually my very own submission:

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Rocking. Love this song.

Tried to run today (inside, on treadmill) and ended up walking a mile and running another mile. I sprained my bad knee last weekend (just doing ordinary stuff) and it's still pretty tender, so I wanted to take it easy. I weighed in today at 183 lbs., which is up a pound from 3 weeks ago when I was last brave enough to get on a scale. That's "margin of error" in terms of the scale, so I'm not too worried. That was my first work out all week. The fall session of the Alberta Legislature started this week and that resulted in a lot of 10- and 12-hour days. This was not a week in which I wanted to be at the gym at 5:30 p.m. working out instead of at home eating dinner. Hopefully I can be back on a more regular gym schedule next week. Our microwave oven is killing my wireless connection whenever it's on, which my friend Jim Whitelaw (@jimwhitelaw) tells me is a sign our microwave is leaking, so we went out today to buy a new one. What a frustrating experience. Ou

When we last left our Survivors they ... actually, I have no memory of last week's show. Have I mentioned that this season blows? (Actually, yes, repeatedly. Why I continue to watch it is the only remaining question.) Oh, right ... Marty almost got voted out with an immunity idol in his pocket and someone named "Yve" who I swear had never appeared on the first 5 episodes before being parachuted onto the island last week, got the boot. Next you're going to tell me there's a Survivor player named Benry. Espada won the very cool reward challenge, which was a water polo-shoot-out kind of thing. They got to go on a Nicaraguan farm adventure that included milking a cow. Naonka complained she didn't like touching a cow's nipple. Duly noted. Meanwhile, Jane caught some fish and decided to eat one by herself in the forest rather than feed her lazy tribe. Sadly, this really went nowhere. Espada then won immunity, sending La Flor back to tribal council. Sash convince

The attached screen cap, taken earlier today, shows the Edmonton Oilers in sadly familiar territory : 30th place. Dead last in the NHL. I mention this only because after the team won their season opener, certain folks in this town were declaring a "new era" had begun for the team, while others appeared to be ready to plan the Stanley Cup parade route. Now, six games into the Oilers season, the new era appears to look a lot like the old era .

Tonight, the teams crossed the border from Sweden to Norway. Nat and Kat went for the Fast Forward - eating a sheep's head. Which was an issue because one of them is a vegetarian. But they persevered and won the FF. The other teams rappelled a bridge for a clue and then had to climb back up the rope. Except the tattooed biker couple, Nick and Vickie, who went for the Fast Forward, saw it was taken and then weren't sure what that meant. Sigh. The Detour was a choice between mountain biking and a boat thing that involved delivering cod or something. Nat and Kat finished first (duh!) while the beach volleyball girls came in last. Next week: Russia.

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It's Brock vs. Cain this Saturday night! Whoooo! You will want to see this card. It should be really good. So here's the usual link on where to find a bar in Edmonton, Calgary or elsewhere in Alberta to see the fight.

Spoilers ahoy! So the twist was both tribes competing for 2 individual immunity necklaces and both tribes would vote someone off at Tribal Council. Holly won the Espada immunity. For La Flor it was Jill. The two women then squared off for a tribal feast. Jill won for La Flor. Meanwhile, Marty convinced Fabio he was a chess grandmaster (untrue) and he had a plan to turn the game around (probably untrue). And Fabio, who is less intelligent than a coconut, totally bought it. Dude! At the other tribe, Dan again expressed his desire to quit, noting that he's not sure why he's on Survivor because he doesn't need the money. I'm not sure why I'm watching a show so badly casted. La Flor hatched a plan to flush out Marty's idol and have either him or Kelly B voted out. Marty didn't play the idol and the votes split 3 for Marty, 3 for Kelly B and 2 for Evil But Cute Brenda. They revoted. Kelly B got the boot. Espada had a severe case of food envy during their

WARNING: THIS RECAP CONTAINS SPOILERS. So if you're not watching the show on the east coast feed, and you don't want to be spoiled, you may want to come back later. After spending 2 full episodes in Ghana, the teams headed to northern Sweden. All the teams were given tickets there, but a handful of teams, including Team YouTube, found an earlier connecting flight from Frankfurt to Sweden. The teams went to Ice Hotel where Michael and Kevin had the lamest speed bump ever: sitting on ice furniture for 10 minutes. From there it was off to racing dogs. Team YouTube maintained their lead despite the speed bump, while Jill and Thomas, the team with the Express Pass managed to get themselves lost and in last place. During the second commercial break, we wondered out loud whether they'd somehow manage to get eliminated without using it. Teams got a choice between extreme sledding or building a teepee and setting up a bed in it. Team YouTube did the tent, where they lost the l

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I dunno ... file this under "lessons learned" or "the best laid plans" or something, but my usual Saturday 10K went quite badly this morning. I suppose my first mistake was running outside when it was 0 and windy. I wore sweats and a hoodie and figured that after a cold first mile, I'd warm up and be fine. Instead, after a cold first mile, I was cramping, freezing, unable to find any kind of running rhythm at all, and pretty much done. I gutted out another half mile before deciding that running just wasn't happening today. So I walked home, and clocked just under 4 miles of cardio. It didn't help, either, when I got home, got on the scale and came in at 184.5 lbs, which is more than 2 lbs. higher than last Saturday. I don't know if that's the chocolate chip cookies my wife baked this week or just an aberration, but either way, it didn't help my mood. I mean, what's the whole point of exercising if you're still gaining weight? Fru

WARNING: THIS RECAP CONTAINS SPOILERS. So if you're not watching the show on the east coast feed, and you don't want to be spoiled, you may want to come back later. Based on last week's preview, it appeared that the teams were in for a very early merge, but it turned out to be a mere tribal swap. So now instead of me mocking the Geezer Tribe and the Kindergarten Tribe, I'm gonna have to actually learn the tribe names (although Blue and Yellow tribe works). However, it only took FIVE WEEKS for the producers to basically jettison the entire Young vs. Old theme, at least in terms of tribes. I'm sure that this theme will continue in the newly revamped tribes, but, still... Of course, it was all worth it for the bit of the editing genius of having Marty bragging about how totally in control he is and how it would take something totally extraordinary to disrupt his plans. Cue "Drop your buffs." The Blue tribe won the reward challenge, winning live poultry. Mart

The most awesome thing in the history of awesome.

Still in Ghana, the teams had to train at a boxing gym, which everyone did fine at. Then they had to move construction material, which resulted in about half the teams not reading the clue properly and having to do it again. After that, teams had to locate Ghana on a map! BAHAHAH!! Epic fails. And then half the teams couldn't find a code key that took up an entire wall of a house. Mensa members these folks are not. Team Glee came in first, which made me happy. Team YouTube came in last, which made me sad. But it's a non-elimination leg, so they're still in it, which made me happy. Next week: Snow!

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I was reminded of something again doing a 7.5 mile run outside - if my left knee didn't give me problems running outside, I could probably run next year's Edmonton marathon. I had a great run today - for about six-and-a-half miles, and then my knee just didn't want to run anymore. Now, that's about 2 miles later than my knee normally decides its had enough, so I'm hopeful that I can continue training at longer distances outside and have it hold up. But at 6 miles I wasn't the least bit tired and could have easily gone several more miles - except for my knee. For the record, here are my mile markers for today: Mile 1: 12:36 Mile 2: 11:58 Mile 3: 12:54 Mile 4: 11:28 Mile 5: 12:02 Mile 6: 12:46 Mile 7: 14:54 As you can see, I really had to slow my pace at the end due to the discomfort in my knee. Still, 7.5 miles is the longest I've ever run outside, so I'm quite happy about that.

I had figured given the crappy summer we had that there was no way I'd be spending any time outside running this fall, but since we've had a nicer fall than we've had summer, I've been able to get outside quite a bit and go running. Well, that and I got the Nike+ app for my iPhone and I've been looking for an excuse to use it before the winter confines me to the treadmill. I'm always a sucker for good technology, but good technology that gets me more interested in exercising is a great bonus. I really like this app. Sure, at base level, it's a glorified GPS that tells you how far you've been running, but its ability to keep stats on how longest run, fastest run, etc., lets me dig around in the stats and pull out fun little tidbits that keep me motivated to keep running. Like today, for instance, I beat my personal best 5K (OK, personal best from the last 3 weeks I've had the app) by a full minute and 20 seconds, and my bum knee held up, which was

The worst Survivor series of all-time continues tonight with the promise of a Naonka meltdown. I can't wait ... So Naonka finds the hidden immunity idol on the Kindergarten tribe, ensuring she'll be torturing viewers and her tribe mates for a while longer yet. And the took the opportunity to gloat, bully and trash talk. She's a teacher? Really? The Younger Tribe slaughtered the Older Tribe at the combined reward/immunity challenge. At Tribal council, it came down to Dan and annoying Jimmy T, and a last minute promise to change couldn't save Jimmy T from being voted out. Next week: The tribes merge already?

The teams went to Ghana where they had to sell sunglasses, install TV antennas and move wacky coffins. It was all pretty uneventful. Yup, the entire season peaked last week. (Although Mallory asking if anyone had a heart attack on the mat before was funny.) Team Watermelon-In-The-Face came in first. The mom and birth daughter team was eliminated. Next week: It's hot in Africa.

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So I'm listening to NRT Radio the other day when one of the bumper promos talks about the new Group 1 Crew album, "Outta Space Love," and how great it is. I didn't pay it much attention - I'm not really a hip-hop guy - until New Release Tuesday put the album up as their free album preview, so I gave it a listen. And to my utter delight, it's the best Christian album of 2010. Seriously. It's a rockin' groovin' partyin' big bundle of fun, and I haven't stopped listening to it all week, and I've got Let's Go bopping in my brain. Highest recommendation. Go buy it.