John of ostomyathlete.com and Rob of IDEAS (Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society) are competing in the TransRockies Challenge V as part of an awareness campaign for IDEAS. They are both ostomates, which means because of disease they have had surgery to make an artificial hole for waste.

Both Rob and John compete in triathlons and do other athletic feats that would be great achievements for anyone.

Rob and John will demonstrate to society that illness is only an obstacle to overcome, and that focus on ability rather than disability leads to better quality of life.

This describes the purpose fo the team, the campaign and their plans:

Team CanadaHomeHealth.com/IDEAS’ main goal in racing the TransRockies is to raise awareness of the Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Society. The organization was founded by Rob Hill of Vancouver, BC to help remove the stigma associated with intestinal diseases and people living with ostomies. The society conducts a wide range of activities including school talks, presentations to professional organizations and awareness campaigns throughout BC, Canada and North America. This summer, the society will also support a day camp program for children living with IBD in Vancouver, BC.

CanadaHomeHealth.com is sponsoring John and Rob’s team. It will be called “Team CanadaHomeHealth.com/IDEAS”.

A few weeks ago I discovered that my formerly-new currently-favourite rum was discontinued by the provincial liquor control. Now I don’t drink much or often, but when I do do things, I prefer the highest quality. It seemed strange to me that a great product like Matusalem would be taken from shelves when so much space is taken up by moderate products like Bacardi and Captain Morgan. That could be the tyranny of the masses and their ignorance.

Matusalem rum originally distilled its fine rums in pre-revolution Cuba, but they moved to Dominican during the revolution.

I wanted to find out what happened and where I could find some. They still had the darker rum “Clasico,” but not the white, “Platino.”

So, I contacted the company at one end and the retailer at the other.

Matusalem & Company