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 Grant
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Grant Fitz has been known to:
,
survive a heart attack if you're alone, self
esteem), take hold of every minuteGrant Fitz, B.Sc., iNTj, is passionate about learning and promoting wind related sports as they apply to human motion below, on and above the surface of the earth. In this pursuit, he does find a healthy balance of mind, body, and spirit.
Grant was born Thursday August 2nd 1962 6:05am and raised in Scarborough which is a suburb of Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada (135k) (photo courtesy of Paul Jappy). He grew up swimming and cycling in the summer, and tobogganing in the winter. After too many years at University of Toronto studying computer science, psychology, and statistics, Grant finally left and started pursuing outdoor activities after work. He still likes riding his bicycle but during the winter he discovered the joy of downhill skiing. You may still see him out on the hills of Ontario, but he's most happiest in the Rockies or the Laurentians.
In the spring of 1995 he went to Alberta, Canada to ski at Lake Louise and Sunshine. While visiting Rob & Cindy, he found himself at the movie theatre watching Forrest Gump. On the way to the cinema in the mall, he passed a kite shop. There was this video playing in the window of the store with a man flying this thing, which he later found out was called a Revolution. It had four lines and he could spin it on a dime. Being a controlling Leo, Grant was so intrigued by the maneuverability he had over the kite.
Near the end of the Forrest Gump film, Forrest was seen riding his lawnmower. He looked so happy and content just sitting there cutting the grass. After the film Grant passed by the kite store again. All he could remember was Forrest cutting the grass and how happy he was. So Grant thought, if Forrest can cut grass, Grant can fly a kite. So he bought the Revolution and the rest is history. Between paragliding lessons from Glenn Derouin, Grant flew his kite at a small field near Rob & Cindy's. Since then he's bought bigger kites like the Quadrifoil C-Series, Quadrifoil Competition XXL which, in the right wind conditions, are strong enough to pull you along the ground and even lift you off the ground. No matter what time of year it is, you'll always be able to fly your kite. The only difference is how you make contact with the earth.
Grant still believes that around Toronto, the winter is the best time to fly when you want to be pulled along the ground. Once Lake Simcoe freezes, you've got the world's biggest playground to fly on. At it's widest point, you can't even see the other side of Lake Simcoe. There's no lift lines. No lift ticket. And it's less than an hour north of Toronto. Because the sport is so physically demanding, you never seem to get cold. If you see any kites on the lake on a surf board in the water, it's probably him.
In the summer months, you can fly some of the local areas. The Toronto Kiteflyers Association (TKA) have numerous events through the whole summer. It's always fun to fly and socialize with familiar faces.
In the summer of 1997, Grant took up windsurfing. Believe it or not even though the physical skill is quite different, the relationship of the sail to the wind is quite similar. It's also a great way to stay in shape during the summer and believe it or not winter months.
Both traction kiting and windsurfing take some skill to acquire. Grant truly believes that anyone can learn them. If you're willing to fall in the water and like the wind at your side, it's truly a wonderful place to be. Be a true windaholic!
In the summer of 1999, after a long time of planning and saving for a set of wings, Grant went to St. Jean Chrysostome. It's located across from Quebec city on the south shore, just west of Levis. Their he met Eric & Elizabeth Dufour of Paratour, and David Sigier, Eric's teaching assistant. See A Field Of Angels.
When Grant's not outdoors in the wind, he loves spending time at home with his two cats Eternity and Tibette listening and playing music. Eternity is very affectionate and loves attention. Tibette is very smart but quite the fraidy cat. And he doesn't think that either one of them has ever tried to eat any of his fish.
Grant has been an interactive Voice Response developer since 1991. During that time he's worked on several projects including Bell 611, Air Canada Flight Arrivals/Departures, Caisses Populaires, Royal Trust Mutual Funds, CIBC Telephone Banking, CIBC VISA, CIBC Mondex, Gaz Metropolitan, and Bank of Montreal Mondex. New to the industry in 1991, he began as a developer and progressed into a lead architect and designer.
Grant was the lead developer for CIBC in their IVR implementation of Mondex in the Guelph Pilot that took place in from 1997 to 1998. As a result of this achievement, Grant redesigned and was the architect of a Mondex IVR that InterVoice now sells as their Mondex Gateway.
His earlier affiliations include programming positions at IBM Personnel, Marketing, and Information Systems, and support positions at Bank of Montreal.
fitzgr@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2001-2003 Grant Fitz. All rights reserved.
http://www.oocities.org/fitzgr
