Sweepings / Balayages December 2015

The Pointe Claire Curling Club News

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The Editor’s Half Page This is the last issue of Sweepings / Balayages for 2015

I am introducing some new columns and encourage all club members to participate in this endeavor. This little news mag is designed to involve all of us in club life, and I hope with some success. Thank you to all contributors: without you, you would not be reading this compelling introduction.

A big welcome to this year’s new members who will keep PCCC at the head of the Class…because we are indeed the Best.

Bob Rondeau and Ruth McFarland have taken over as club historians from the great Hu Whitehead who has done it for so long and so well that they have a very high standard to live up to. See the inside opposite page, a great start!

There are quite a few surprises and I hope you enjoy them. I welcome all suggestions to improve Sweepings, just email your ideas to alsimard@manxcomm.com

Contributions in French are most welcome and translations greatly appreciated but not required. Ici on parle le Quebeçois.

Our Juniors are really on the move! See Hannah Gargul’s article on page 12. I especially would like to hear from our Junior members. Writing is good practice for University.

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël and Happy New Year!

Alex Simard, Editor

Highlights from This Issue (but heck, it’s all good)

President’s Message 4

New Members 7

I packed my bag… 8

Did you know…? 12

Juniors’ News 14

The Senate 16

Careers: Life before curling 18

Computer Guru: Bob Rondeau 22

Kurling for Kids! 24

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Je voudrais vous souhaiter la bienvenue

à une autre saison de curling et d’activités sociales au Club de curling Pointe Claire. De nouveau, nous offrons une cédule complète de ligues de curling et d’événe-ments au calendrier de notre superbe programme social. À compter du 30 novembre, nous avions accueilli 28 nouveaux membres, donc nous demeurons avec un nombre semblable à ce que nous avions l’an dernier. Bienvenue spécialement à vous toutes et à vous tous. J’espère que vous profitez de nos cliniques d’initiation et que vous êtes tous devenus membres d’une équipe et, surtout, que vous partici-pez dans l’une de nos nombreuses ligues. Je suis certain que nos membres actuels vous accueillent chaleureusement.

Sachez que les directeurs et leurs comités ont travaillé fort durant l’été pour que le club soit fin prêt pour cette nouvelle saison, autant sur la glace que dans les autres sphères, et je vous demande de leur donner votre entière collaboration. J’aimerais souhaiter la bienvenue aux nouveaux membres à la direction: Jim Redston (Trésorier), Barb Francis (Membership), David Ward (Éducation), Léo Leblanc (Sénateurs) ainsi que Tom Litchfield (Directeur en général). Les directeurs sont là pour vous, mais leur travail exige votre collaboration et votre participation. S’il vous plaît, répondez à

l’appel aux bénévoles. Je voudrais mentionner le retour de notre gérant, Peter Laekas, ainsi que de nos techniciens de la glace, Karl Murovic et son fils Mirko qui poursuivent leur excellent travail dans la préparation de la surface de jeu.

Nous avons créé un nouveau look pour notre site web, sous la responsabilité de Steve Mariano et maintenu avec l’aide de son comité. Notre intention est d’être plus interactif avec nos membres con-cernant les mises à jour de l’information, l’inscription aux divers événements, les cédules et les résultats des ligues, les calendriers ainsi que la section réservée aux membres. Notre Trésorier Jim Redston et son comité travaillent activement à la réalisation du site GG Curl que vous trouverez dans la section des membres du site web. GG Curl permettra une plus grande interaction des membres dans tous les volets de leur membership.

Je tiens à vous informer de deux événe-ments majeurs qui sont au stage de la planification. Le premier concerne la nécessité de remplacer à court terme nos pierres périmées. Il y aura plusieurs intiti-atives tout au long de l’année pour des levées de fonds afin de compenser les coûts. Deuxièmement, nous nous approchons à grands pas de notre centième anniversaire en 2021. Wow! Un comité sera formé cette année afin d’en-treprendre la planification de cet événe-ment. Nous sommes aussi à faire la ré-vision de tous nos documents archivés, pour nous assurer de ne rien perdre de notre histoire, et nous espérons compléter cette tâche à temps pour l’anniversaire.

Message Du Président

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Nous sommes constamment à la recher-che d’idées et de suggestions de nos membres. Je sais que notre membership ne s’est jamais gêné à nous offrir leurs opinions et nous aimerions les connaître.

Il y a toujours un bon nombre de membres qui travaillent en arrière-plan et je voudrais en mentionner quelques-uns. Alex Simard (Sweepings), Harvey Labar (répertoire), Bob Rondeau, Ruth McFarland, Hu Whitehead (archives), Guy Hamilton, Brian Francis, Keith Mallette (site web), Gerry Yuskowski, Caroline Thall, (nos représentants à l’ARCM), Jim Cadieux, Howard Stevens (finances), Bob Rondeau, Wayne Arnold, Keith Mallette (photographie). Il y en a d’autres qui contribuent au succès de nos événements et je les applaudis vivement. Je voudrais aussi remercier nos com-manditaires de leur support continuel.

Bill Ellyett

Photo par Wayne Arnold

President’s Message I want to welcome you to another great season of curling and socializing at the Pointe Claire Curling Club. Once again we have a full schedule of curling leagues and events that are matched by a terrific social program. As of November 30th, we had 28 new members which means that our membership num-bers are pretty much the same as last year. A special welcome to you all. I hope that you have taken advantage of our introductory clinics and are all members of a team and participating

in one of our many leagues. I am sure our current members are making you feel welcome.

I want you to know that your Board members and their committees have been hard at work throughout the summer getting the club in top shape for the coming year both on and off the ice and I ask that you give them your full support. I would like to welcome our new board members, Jim Redston (Treasurer), Barb Francis (Membership), David Ward (Education), Leo Leblanc (Senators) and Tom Litchfield (At Large). The Board members are here for you, but their work cannot be done without your cooperation and participation. When the call goes out for volunteers, please step up and offer your services. I would also mention that Peter Laekas is back as your club manager, as are our ice men Karl Murovic and his son Mirko who continue to do an excellent job maintaining our ice surface.

We have introduced a new look web site designed and maintained by Steve Mariano (web master) and his commit-tee. Our intent is to be more interactive with the membership with current information updates, event registrations, league schedules and results, and calen-dars, as well as a members’ only section. Our Treasurer Jim Redston and his committee have been hard at work on the GG Curl site which is found in the members’ section of the website. GG Curl ill allow members to be more interactive with the club in all areas of their mem-bership.

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(President Continued) I want to inform you of two major events that are in the early planning stages. The first is the need to replace our curling stones, as they have reached their expiry date. We will be conducting a number of fundraising initiatives throughout the year to help offset their cost. Secondly, we are approaching our 100th anniversary in 2021. Wow! A committee will be selected this year to begin planning this event. We are also reviewing our archives to make certain that none of our history is lost, and hope to complete this task to coincide with our anniversary.

As always, we are looking for thoughts and suggestions from our members. I know that our membership has never been shy in offering opinions and we look forward to hearing them.

There are always a number of members who toil away in the background and I would like to mention a few of them. Alex Simard (Sweepings), Harvey Labar (Roster), Bob Rondeau, Ruth McFarland, Hu Whitehead (Archives), Guy Hamilton, Brian Francis, Keith Mallette (Website), Gerry Yuskowski, Caroline Thall ( ARCM representatives) Jim Cadieux, Howard Stevens (Finance), Bob Rondeau, Wayne Arnold, Keith Mallette and Alex Simard (Photography). There are others who help out at our events that make them so successful and I applaud them as well. I also thank our sponsors for their continuing support.

Bill Ellyett

Club life… more than curling!

We’ve already had two very energetic social events this year – our Opening Cocktail Party on October 23, and the very lively President’s Dinner Dance (a Motown evening) on Novem-ber 21. The annual PCCC Christmas Dinner and Carol Sing takes place Saturday, December 12, with 96 members attending.

But wait… there’s more! Mark two more dates on your calendar. Sat-urday, January 30, is the kick-off dinner for our week-long Calcutta event, with the usual feast of lasagna, garlic bread, Caesar salad and carrot cake. And our Closing Dinner, which seems a long time from now but will arrive before you know it, is Saturday, April 9. Don’t miss the fun. These are always special events and a great part of life at PCCC.

The annual New Members Lunch took place on Saturday, November 7. The event was very well-attended by 80 members, new and not so new, who sat down to a tasty meat loaf lunch. We were very pleased to present 24 of the 28 new mem-bers with their club pins after the lunch. We also presented 25-year pins to Pat-rick Kavanagh, Jennifer Wall and Eileen Cummings. Loretta Troyer was unable to attend so she will receive her 25-year pin at the Ladies’ Christmas Luncheon. Our guest speaker was Gazette food writer and cookbook author, Julian Armstrong, who gave an entertaining and informative Power Point presentation about the

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Front row, left to right:

Noreen Lavallée, Dorothy MacDonald, Marcelle Auger, Patricia Funnell, Myriam Thibert

Back row(s) alternating back to front, left:

Edith Legault, Kathy Ware, Odette Freeman, Marie Camirand, Ann Pate, Bruce Jones, Geneviève Proulx, Keith Wosnitza, Julia Sosnovik, Mike Freeman, Danielle Schyle, Mike Rist, Wendy Cazabon, Charles Cazabon, Yvon Lavallée

Missing are: Patricia and Warren Smith, Lita Donnelle, Barbara Eplett, Patricia Denis Boyer, Michel Guay, Sharon Keays, and James Scrimgeour.

regions of Quebec and their local foods. Copies of her cookbook were available for sale and a small profit of $50 was donated to the club’s new rock fund.

Thank you to the second-year curlers who deftly manoeuvered between tables to quickly serve all the guests. They also helped with the set-up and the kitchen was spotless after they cleaned up.

I hope our new greens have enjoyed the first few months of curling and we wish them lots of success/fun both on and off the ice.

Barbara Francis

Photography Bob Rondeau

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Last spring I packed my bag and went to…The Philippines

I left Montreal last April 1st for Toronto to meet the other 6 people on my SCAW team (Sleeping Children the World). It took almost 22 hours to get to Manila via Shanghai; we were exhausted but also very excited to start our adventure.

We were met at the airport by our SCAW Philippines partner representatives and the driver who would be with us for the duration of our trip. The Philippines team was amazing; they took very good care of us and were very well organized. We spent our first day relaxing to recover from the 12-hour jetlag and getting used to the incredible heat.

We started our day each morning at 6:30 with a breakfast meeting at our hotel, then boarded our mini bus to travel 1.5-2 hours to deliver 350 bedkits before lunch. A bedkit includes a ground sheet, pillow, mosquito net, sheets, blankets, clothes, backpack, raincoat and school supplies. We include as many useful items as the $35 donation will buy in the country of distribution.

The moment we arrived at our location we were greeted by a crowd of beautiful, colourful children anxious for the day to begin. First step was to choose the site to take the photos which are used as the official record of the distribution. Before starting each distribution we participated in an assembly with a few words of welcome and a prayer, followed by the Philippines’ and Canadian national anthems.

Next, we would randomly select some parents to interview to verify that the items included in the bedkits were representative of the chil-dren’s needs, the best way for us to know that the donations are relevant and beneficial.

After lunch prepared by local volunteers we would drive another hour so to the afternoon distribution site before driving back to Manila

By JC Tremblay

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for a welcome night of sleep before doing it all over again the next day. In all we had 19 distributions in 14 days. It was a very hectic two weeks with temperatures in the 36-40C range, but worth it as the children were so sweet and had smiles that melted your heart.

Two years ago I went to Kolkata, India with SCAW; I loved the experience so much that when they invited me to the Philippines I did not hesitate. This is an opportunity to visit places and meet people you would never have a chance to see as a regular tourist. As a traveling volunteer for SCAW, we pay for all of our own expenses, flights, food, hotels, transport etc. Every penny of a $35 donation is for the bedkits that go to the deserving children; it is truly a 100% donation.

It has been part of our children's Christmas stocking for years and they have always en-joyed seeing the photos of the children from the different countries.

After two weeks and 5000 bedkits our mission was over. It is overwhelming how many desper-ately poor people we meet and even though we know you can't give to all of them, we have to satisfy ourselves that there are 5000 children who will sleep a little easier and will have school

supplies to help with their education.

For more information on SCAW visit the web page at: http://www.scaw.org/ or just ask me anytime.

As we finished our mission on April 17th my husband Doug arrived in Manila, and as the rest of the team headed back to Toronto, he and I embarked on our own adventure.

April 18th we had arranged to visit the Island of Corregidor for an up-close look at a place that played a big role in the Second World War in the Pacific. A most touching history lesson...

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We boarded an overnight bus for a 10-hour ride to Banaue, north of Manila, where I had hired a guide to take us hiking in the UNESCO World Heritage site of rice terraces. The sight that welcomed us when we got off the bus was so amazing we quickly forgot about the long uncomfortable night.

We hiked up, down and across these beautiful mountains for 5 days, feeling like mountain

goats at times on narrow trails just to find ourselves crossing the rice terraces on walls less than 9” wide, a challenging balancing act.

We were rewarded at every turn by a fast-flowing river, beautiful waterfalls, and hot springs.

The last 2 days of our Northern adventure was in the town of Sagada, known for its caves and hanging caskets; instead of cemeteries, this tribe would hang their caskets on the side of cliffs. I know it sounds odd but it was strangely beautiful.

Each day the vistas were more stunning than the ones before… From there we went back to Manila, another 10-hour night bus, for our flight to the island of Palawan. It has been voted one of the most beautiful Islands in the world and it did not disappoint.

We enjoyed 5 days of R&R on the beach in Sabang near one of the longest underground rivers in the world.

Finally it was time to return home, sad to leave this beautiful country where the people are so gentle, welcoming, and generous with their time, energy and always ready to smile.

Doug and I loved every minute of it...

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Fore… Submitted by Tom Litchfield

Just prior to the start of our curling season, the annual PCCC golf tournament was held at Windmill Heights Golf Course. Forty-four golfers took part in the event on a cool but sunny day, and everyone enjoyed themselves. After a beer at the 19th hole, we all headed to PCCC for a delicious dinner prepared by Terry Hritchuk owner of Two Chefs.

The winners this year were Neil Gargul, Hugues Demol and Remi Portugais (missing from the photo).

A thank you to Martin Walpert, Walter Dziewirz, Jim Redston, Patricia Brown, and Alex Simard for all their help. A special thank you to the Windmill Heights for a great day. Looking forward to next year.

…and More! We traded golf clubs for curling brooms for Opening Bonspiel, the first event of the curling season. Over 100 people played in the event, and many new curlers got their first taste of curling. There were many missed shots and many great shots and everyone seem to have a good time.

This year, a tie meant two winning teams. The team on the left – Steve Mariano, Jim Cadieux, Heidi Hirsimaki and Bryan Burns (missing from photo), and on the right, Jan Szumski, Susan Reed, Wendy Gargul and Bernard Blais.

Special thanks to Patricia Brown and all the volunteers who helped with the food.

It was a great start to the season.

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Ron O’Shaughnessy Enters the Rugby Ontario Hall of Fame

With the recent completion of the Rugby World Cup, many of you may have developed a newfound appreciation for the sport, but few among us know that one of our members, Ron O’Shaughnessy, was recently recognized by Rugby Ontario for his involvement with the powerhouse Irish Canadians (now the Markham Irish RFC) back in the late sixties and early seventies.

Ron’s curling experience at Pointe Claire goes back to 1973, but his rugby career began many years earlier. If we start at the beginning, it goes back to wartime Ireland, where at seven years of age in 1944, he began playing rugby as a schoolboy in suburban Dublin Ireland. During his engineering studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ron played with the Lansdowne and Monkstown rugby clubs. After graduation, and with few available jobs in Ireland, he was hired in 1961 by an engineering firm in New York. In case you are wondering, Ron had known Una from back in their school days and she followed him to New York, where they were married the next year.

Ron soon found out that his U.S. Green Card status made him eligible for the military draft – and so the newlyweds decided that maybe Canada would be a better option and they made their way to Toronto. After one year with the Toronto Nomads Rugby Club, Ron made the switch to the Irish Canadians and became part of the dynasty that went on to win six provincial league and cup titles between 1963 and 1972. Ron played the pivotal role of scrum-half and was captain from 1965 to 1967. It is this team that was inducted into the Rugby Ontario Hall of Fame in November.

Ron’s company transferred him to Montreal in 1970, where he continued playing rugby with the Montreal Irish. He captained the team for one year and was club president for two years. After losing a tooth and developing back problems, Ron traded in his mouth guard for a whistle and began his refereeing career in 1974, which he continued until 1982. (On a personal note, I first met Ron when I started playing rugby in 1976. Despite his likable character and fairness, Ron, like all referees, acquired a nickname and was known among players as “O’Shag Nasty.” (I later converted from player to referee in my own rugby career and I’m sure that I had an equally charming nickname.)

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When asked to reflect on his 40 years on the rugby pitch, he remembers best the camaraderie among players, both teammates and adver-saries. One vivid moment that he’ll never forget was one of the Ontario Championship games at Fletcher’s Fields, north of Toronto. It was mid-November with sleet falling and the temperature hovering around freezing. The game went into double overtime and was decided by a drop goal that bounced off an upright and the crossbar before falling over for the win.

The first documented rugby game in North America was in 1874 between McGill and Harvard. One hundred years later, Ron’s claim to fame was that he was selected to referee the Centenary anniversary game between the two schools at Forbes Field, just north of McGill Stadium.

When asked about the modern-day game and the recent World Cup in particular, Ron is of the opinion that the top Southern Hemisphere countries are a few years ahead of the Home Countries. He has observed that the game is being played at a higher intensity than ever – very rough, but with few nasty incidents. It makes for edge-of-your-seat viewing and he thoroughly enjoys watching it.

So when you are sitting around for a drink after you next play with or against Ron, don’t be shy to ask him about his storied past with the oval ball. He’ll gladly recount a most interesting tale or two.

Keith Mallette

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News from the Juniors We are thrilled to announce that our junior program is full! We have 28 little rocks and 22 big rock curlers.

The closing of the Lachine and Baie d’Urfé Junior programs has caused us to gain a lot of new curlers this season. We are very excited to have so many juniors and to be able to teach them, but this also puts a strain on our coaches. We have five amazing coaches who come out every week to work with the young curlers, Neil Gargul, Robert Jackson, Stephen Janidlo, Mark Paterson and Tom Zevnik, as well as two of our older juniors, Michael Solomon and Brendan Jackson, who come out and help with the little rocks before their own practice.

This is obviously not enough to be able to fully work with the juniors on developing their skills. In the past couple of weeks, we have been extremely fortunately to have David Ward, Don Aitken, JC Tremblay, Danielle Mills and Donald Ross come out and join our regular coaches. If anyone is available to come out Saturday afternoons to help us, we would really appreciate it and our juniors would love to learn from you. We would like to congratulate Tom Zevnik, David Ward and JC Tremblay on completing their club coach certification through Curling Quebec.

On October 18th, our competitive teams and their coaches were invited to participate in the Curling Academy Clinic at Glenmore Curling Club. This was an exciting opportunity for our juniors who received one-on-one coaching from Russ Howard, Grant Odishaw and Mary Anne Arsenault. They each got a video analysis from Grant and were given tips on improving their technique, and some great strategy tips from Russ and information on building team dynamics from Mary Anne.

Two of our juniors are spreading their wings and have started curling on the provincial circuit. Brendan Jackson has joined a team out of Hudson Legion and they have competed in a couple of tournaments on the junior circuit. Hannah Gargul has joined Team Legler out of Sorel-Tracy and they are hoping to earn a spot in the Juvenile Provincial Finals. They finished first at the Aurele-Racine tournament on November 15th.

On November 8th, the juniors were invited to come out and play some in-house games which was a great opportunity for our new curlers to experience a game. Our juniors are excited for the upcoming interclub season to start so they

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can go to different clubs and play against other teams in the area. We are also in the process of planning our ever-favourite “kids vs parents” on December 20th and putting together teams for the Tim Caverly Bonspiel taking place December 27th-29th.

On behalf of all the juniors – Good Curling!!

by Hannah Gargul

Not so long ago

Curling 101 Grads of 2015: Francine Smith, Mark Thibodeau, Bill Lynam, Coach Jim Kyle, Michelle Percey, and club members Myriam Thibert, Alice Kozculab and Brian Lindsay. Missing from photo are Sonya Deschene and Kevin Labadie.

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News from the Senate By Leo Leblanc

The Senators were off and running early with trophy play starting mid-October. Although we are slightly fewer in numbers it hasn't changed our enthusiasm for the game. With an increased number of Senators who have come from night-time leagues, the level of play has become more competitive.

Ralph Carter has done a great job organizing our InterClub teams and events. Ralph is also considering ways that Pointe Claire can become more competitive, while keeping the fun and comradery in the game. Bob Suderman continues to manage our Super Senior program. PCCC hosted a Super Senior’s bonspiel on November 19th in which 18 outside teams participated. We received many compliments on our ice and our hosting abilities. Bob mentioned there were over 18 volunteers, many from the Senate.

The first Senator’s luncheon was held on Tuesday November 17th. One of our Senators, Jean-Yves Wolff, made an interesting presentation about how he wrote and published a book in both French "La Légende du Loup - Le voyage vers l'Ouest" and English: “The Legend of the Wolf - Journey to the West"

Upcoming Events:

Dec 15th …………… Johnson Trophy Dec 15th……………..Christmas Dinner

Dec 17th & 18th…..Senators’ Skins Games Jan 19th 2016…….Senators’ Luncheon*

*Pat Kavanagh has volunteered to lead a team to serve an old-fashioned corned beef and cabbage lunch, with apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Sounds delicious, can't wait.

A great big thanks to everyone who volunteers their time and efforts to the success of the Senate. From the drawmasters, executive past and present, kitchen support, ice preparation and more; you are too many to name but you know who you are and your efforts are greatly appreciated.

It's that time of year when we wish everyone a joyful and happy holiday season spent with family and friends. We look forward to the second half of our curling season at the best curling club in Quebec.

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Education and Compliance Update This has been a great start to our 2015-2016 curling season. With the influx of over 25 new members and many second year curlers, we have held several clinics during this fall for all levels:

Clinics

October 3rd & 4th …Open House clinics

October 7th & 8th …New Members clinics

October 17th ……….Additional New Members clinic

November 5th .……Curling Strategy for skips and thirds

November 23rd.….Ice Preparation

Upcoming clinics include a strategy clinic for leads and seconds scheduled for Thursday, December 17th at 7:00 PM, another ice preparation clinic sometime in December and a brushing clinic in January (TBA). If anyone has other clinic suggestions, please contact me.

We have also been working to ensure that we have qualified coaches to instruct you. Jacynthe Tremblay, Tom Zevnik and I were certified as club coaches this November in addition to our existing certified coaches:

Neil Gargul, Guy Hamilton, Bob Jackson, Jim Kyle, Keith Mallette and Rick Stanton

Lessons

The lesson program has also been going very well. For those of you who are not aware, the lesson program is what allows the club to maintain a tax-free status with the city as an educational institution. This is why it is important for us to keep up these lessons and maximize participation. You can help by ensuring that you arrive dressed in the lounge 15 minutes before your game starts for our educational leagues; Lanthier, Day Ladies, Senators and Mixed. This will allow time for the skip on the left of the schedule for sheet one to complete the lesson and ensure that everyone playing signs the lesson record. I would like to thank the league coordinators, Anita Glen (Day Ladies), Ron Willoughby (Senators), Brian Francis (Mixed) and all the skips who have given lessons to date. I look forward to everyone’s cooperation and participation for the remainder of the year.

David Ward

Director, Education and Compliance

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CAREERS “Careers” is a new feature column in Sweepings this year. We have many PCCC members who have had very interesting and fulfilling careers, and since most curlers are so modest about their accomplishments I thought it was about time that we got to know our curling friends a little better. I love all aspects of flying, so who better to talk to than a third-year curler, Captain Bryan Burns. He flew for 39 years and 9 months as a pilot for Air Canada and loved every minute of it. (Ed.) Q: Can you tell us what led to your career in aviation?

A: Well, aviation has always been a big part of my life. The first three years of my life were spent on an RCAF base at Baden-Soellingen, in Germany. Not given any choice in the matter I arrived there when I was two months old. My dad was a fighter pilot, flying the F-86 Sabre, the same jet that was used in later years by the RCAF aerobatic team, the Golden Hawks. This was at the height of the cold war, things were tense, and there was a lot of flying going on at the base.

But all’s well that ends well, and after his tour in Germany ended, dad was assigned to the base at Portage-la-Prairie, Manitoba, where for the next two years he was a flying instructor to future military pilots. In the summer of 1959, my dad resigned his commission in the RCAF and joined Trans Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) as a First Officer, or co-pilot, as this position is called at some airlines. Even though we were not living on an RCAF base any longer, flying and airplanes continued to be a big part of my life. After a great aviation career, my father retired in 1991. Q: How did you get started as a pilot? A: I started my flight training in April 1972, at Laurentide Aviation at Les Cedres airport, just west of Montreal, while attending John Abbott College. These days, as it has been for many years, flying schools across Canada co-operate with a college, allowing successful students to graduate with a diploma in commercial aviation. I completed my Private and Commercial pilot training by September 1973, mostly flying a Cessna 150. After that, I moved on to the Moncton Flying Club for training on twin engine airplanes, where I also earned my instrument certification. I was now a professional licensed pilot with 250 hours of flying time, looking for a job.

Cessna 150

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Q: When did your Air Canada career begin? A: I was quite lucky, and was hired by Air Canada in March of 1974. This was only possible as an inexperienced pilot because new pilots started as the third pilot on three-pilot airplanes, like the DC-8, the Boeing 727, and the Lockheed L-1011. In that position you were “only” responsible for the aircraft systems like engines, and electrics, and did not do any actual flying.

We had aviation simulators at the Dorval base (now PET), though, and I spent a lot hours practicing in them. So, after five years of on-the-job training on the Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 727, I was now ready for the big time and moved to the right seat of a DC-9. What a charge! The DC-9 was fun to fly, just like driving a hot sports car. We did plenty at takeoffs and landings due to the many short hops we had to make.

On a typical day we might fly Montreal to Ottawa, Val D'Or to Rouyn-Noranda followed by a trip from Val D'Or to Ottawa, and then back to Montreal. We also did a lot of flying in the Maritimes, often in challenging weather conditions and difficult landing conditions. Those experiences really sharpened my skills and I enjoyed the experience. Eventually I moved on to other airplanes, and in 1989 became a Captain on the DC-9. After the DC-9 experience I flew the Airbus A320, which boasted the latest technology at that time. The 320 has a side stick controller (almost like a fighter) instead of the traditional control wheel. After the A-320, I flew the Boeing 767, which gave me my first taste of flying overseas, I had finally crossed the pond, I was officially an inter-continental pilot the world was my oyster.

Air Canada initiated flights be-tween Montreal and Rome in 2007. I was privileged to pilot that first flight to Italy and it was one of many special trips that I remember.

A typical three-man L 1011 crew

June 1, 2007 inaugural Montreal to Rome flight

My dad in the left seat and me flying co-pilot

A Boeing 777 in flight

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The last seven years of my career were spent flying the Boeing 777. We flew for 15 hours straight from Toronto to China and then back after a 24-hour layover. To make these flights possible we had four pilots aboard to spell each other, so fatigue wasn’t a factor. My final flight was from Santiago, Chile to Toronto. There’s a traditional ceremony performed after a pilot’s last flight, but because of our very early arrival time, just before sunrise I missed it. Maybe I’ll tell you about it over a glass of wine...if you’re interested. My total flying time is just over 22,000 hours. That’s like being in the air for two and a half years. At roughly 500 mph, it adds up to 23 return trips to the

moon, about 11,000,000 miles…if I did the math right. During that time, I never had a serious incident, which is a real testament to how safe modern air travel is. Q: And how is life as a curler? I`ve had the pleasure of meeting and curling with many of you since I took up the game in the fall of 2013, about a month before my last flight . Curling was some-thing that I’ve wanted to try for a while but it wasn’t until I was nearly retired that I had the time. Curling is a great game with a lot to learn.

B-777 Ge90-115 engine over 11 . in diameter

B-777 wing in flight. A thing of beauty.

Photographs supplied by Bryan Burns

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Introducing Austen-isms… Words of thoughtful reflection and/or pure nonsense from Jon Austen

“Alex, I think a good article for Sweepings would be where a bunch of men on a ship are looking for a whale. They look and look, but you know what? They never find him. And you know why they never find him? It doesn't say. The article leaves it up to you, the reader, to decide. Then, at the very end, it notifies you that you can lick the page and it tastes like Kool-Aid.”

“A day or two before my last birthday, someone just happened to ask me how old I was, and I said I was 72. Then a day after my birthday, a friend said, ‘Well, happy first day of your 74th year." Where the hell did 73 go? That's the whole thing, we never really know how old we are unless we use fractions or decimals. I for one am not going to do that. And as Satchel Paige said, "How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse." I am not really capable of parsing this phrase; however, two things I'd like to bring to your attention about the above sentence: - firstly, the word 'twas' is one of my very favourites and it rhymes with 'waz' as in "waz sappening?".

- plus, I am a large fan of no 'stirring mice'.

Jon Austen and Zena Chevrier, two of the most loved PCCC members, are currently on a winter sabbatical in Cochrane, Alberta, where they are hoping to introduce curling to an unsuspecting Western Canadian population.

22

Seek, and ye shall find… Here are some sure-fire ways to get your computer into trouble.

If you connect your computer to an electrical circuit that also feeds your toaster, air conditioner, or hair dryer, for example, you’re courting disaster. Even a cheap surge protector is worth the price, but it will only save your bacon once; so, stock up! Or pay the big bucks for a battery-operated unit. What? you don’t use antivirus or anti-spyware software? Tick. Tock. Tick.

You KNOW it’s gonna happen, you just don’t know when. Some of you, wanting to really be safe, have installed more than one app for protection. I’ve seen computers with 3 and 4… They work at cross-purposes, trying to protect you from the other antivirus programs you may have. Pick a good one and ditch the others! You’ve heard all the brands before (Norton, Avast, McAfee, Kaspersky, AVG…) Have you ever heard of the SOPHOS antivirus app? I have been using this software for years and have yet to be invaded. It is free, very powerful, works on Macs and PCs as well. It lets you decide the level of security you feel comfortable with. For instance, it will warn you if someone is sending you a link to a Facebook page, so YOU decide if you want to open it or not. Facebook is notorious for letting in unwanted malware, spyware, viruses, you name it. Check out SOPHOS here and then decide. Caution: you need to strike the right balance between filtering every-thing and not filtering enough. But it does the job well.

You saw an app you liked, so you chose to download it onto your computer. To do so, you

had to agree to the manufacturer’s conditions and you said yes. Great! It installed itself, but now you’re getting all these pop-up windows that you never asked for. Now what? You can solve this yourself: go to your Control Panel. Every Windows operating system has one. Then select ‘Programs’, or ‘Programs and Features’, or ‘Uninstall or change a program’. Along with the app you downloaded came a bunch of apps that slid by you. That happened because you may have hurried through the setup pages where you had to UNCLICK some boxes to say, “No thanks!” to their crapware. Simply go down the list of programs until you see something you don’t recognize and check the date against the date you last installed that “free” program you liked so much. If the dates coincide, you will want to select and then Uninstall the unwanted app. It won’t go away until you uninstall it in this manner.

By default, in Windows, you don’t get to see the suffix at the

very end of a document or image. It makes for a cleaner look, but it also prevents you from seeing if the item is an executable file or not. For example, you might have a file in your email that has this for a title: image1.jpg. However, the full name is really image1.jpg.exe, but you don’t see the suffix exe. Danger! Opening what seems to be an image will release a program that may wreak havoc on your hard drive. So I suggest you go into your Windows parameters and make it show the suffixes of all your documents and files. In Folder Options, you can unclick the box that allows Windows to hide the suffixes (extensions).

Just two words: back up

But more about this next time...

23

What we did on our summer vacation

What happens at the curling club during the summer off-season? Why maintenance of course! Led by our Property chairman, Harold Aubie, we were Assigned various tasks. Here’s the list of our accomplishments.

In the ice shed: · paint the blue ledges and white ribs; · paint the tops to the storage cabinets and the new

empty keg storage cabinet (inside and out); · paint the bottom of the lounge window trim; · replace the bumpers on each sheet

In the club: · sand and varnish the upstairs dining room floor; · paint the hallways and upstairs dining room; · mix and pour cement in hole in floor of under stairs

storage room; · remove all items in storage; · remove storage cabinets in dining room; · purge old records; · take inventory of prize glasses and bar glasses; · paint the ladies downstairs washroom stalls; · remove old drapes and hardware and install new drapes and hardware

(thanks to Linda Ellyett for hemming all of the new drapes); · replace old heavy metal card tables and wooden dining tables with new lighter

resin tables; · check all chairs and replace felt pads as required; · replace older folding chairs with new plush folding chairs · pull wire for wireless range extender for dining room · install heat monitor in ice shed · reposition announcement monitor near bar · install chalk board near bar · create communication corner in lounge near fireplace – paint and install bulletin

boards; · put club personal computers on smaller table

Outside the club:

· scrape and varnish front door; · change light in overhang above door; · pour cement for fire escape base; · straighten fire escape railing and remove bent portion · install open house banner.

Submitted by Bob Dods

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Kurling for Kids is back once again with our annual fundraising event set for April 2nd 2016!

Kurling for Kids is a registered charity dedicated to improving the lives of children and their families through The Montreal Children's Hospital Foundation and the Sainte-Justine CHU Foundation. We strive to raise funds to allow both hospitals to provide leading edge medical treatments, programs and equipment for our children, which would otherwise be out of reach with current budgets. Since 1999, we have raised over $2.2 million.

The 2016 edition of K4K will be our 18th annual fundraising event. The Pointe-Claire Curling Club will be participating again this year along with 10 other curling clubs from the Montreal area. The goal, for all clubs, is to raise $330,000 to purchase urgent critical needs equip-ment for the Montreal Children’s and Sainte Justine’s hospitals.

To start off our fundraising event, we are offering Corporate Sponsorship packages giving you the opportunity to advertise in our K4K annual tournament booklet.

If you are interested in helping us support a great cause by being a corporate sponsor or if you have questions about the sponsorship program, please do not hesitate to contact:

· Tom Litchfield at 514-694-8044 tomlitchfield@sympatico.ca Or

· Jeanny Houde at 514-697-7500 jeannyhoude@gmail.com Note: The 2016 K4K PCCC team sign-up sheet will be posted in the New Year, until then please reserve the date of April 2nd 2016 on your calendar!

Thanking you in advance,

Tom Litchfield and Jeanny Houde