All Heart!

I have a new hero and her name is Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Canada's Governor General.

While animal activists and the European Union oppose the Canadian Seal Hunt, our Governor General stood up for the rights of our seal hunters and aboriginal traditions which benefit from the hunt.

How did she do this? It wasn't through a speech or some TV commercial or Newspaper advertisement.

Our Governor General ate the raw heart of a seal.

Brilliant.

***

Speaking of "Heart" or should I say, "Hart". Great to see TJ, Harry and Nattie kicking ass over in the WWE (ECW). There's no doubt in my mind that this new generation will be as successful as those who've come before them - which is some pretty large shoes to fill, but ones that can be with their unbelievable talent.

***

You know Facebook is kind of a big deal when even the Pope is on there. Now before we get all excited at the possibility of "poking the Pope" or hoping that he fills out some survey like "What kind of car are you" - it's more of a "Fan Page" than an actual friend account.

It's about time the Pope and the rest of the Vatican start to embrace new technology to reach the young - the future.

***

When I was in Grade 5, we would have spelling tests every Friday. Anyone who got 100% would get to go into the "prize closet" and pick out a toy (nurf guns, frisbee etc). I got 100% once or twice - I just kept struggling with the word "beautiful".

Now every test we had the same hard word that was a bonus question. If you got it right, you'd get MONEY (I'm pretty sure it was close to one hundred bucks... but I was in Grade Five so I could totally have thought that and instead it was twenty... either way, it was a good dollar amount).

The word?

Antidisestablishmentarianism.

I could barely spell beautiful and together let alone that word.

For years I thought it was the longest word in the English language - it turns out, it's not even close!

The longest word in the Dictionary is...

Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Though there's an arguement that the longest word in the world is the full chemical name for the largest known protein...

I can't even type it in this blog because it has 189,819 letters!!! All I can think of is that kid who fainted in the US Spelling Bee... imagine his reaction to trying to spell this word!

***

Every now and then I do an interview with an athlete that simply blows me away. Yesterday afternoon, I sat down with Saskatoon native and Boston Bruins forward, Byron Bitz, and it was phenominal.

As soon as we met and started talking, it was as if we've known each other our whole lives. So easy to talk to, and he was so down to Earth. We discussed his decision to turn down the Regina Pats and instead play in the NCAA. We talked about him fighting Donald Brashear, his first NHL goal, fans chanting his name at the TD Banknorth Garden and losing to Carolina in the Eastern Conference Semi Finals.

What was initially supposed to be one story has turned into a two part series - thanks in part to a 25min sit down interview!

I'll try and post the stories on my blog soon... but for those in Canada, tune into Global Saskatoon tonight at 11pm for Part Two of the Byron Bitz story. (Ch. 236 on Bell)