Today I am traveling to Fort Lauderdale to visit a lifelong friend of mine Paul Slevinsky, who lives and works there. We had been in touch over the last couple of weeks and had worked a day into my schedule for us to connect. I haven't seen Paul since 2006 when he was home to Edmonton for a visit.



Paul and I met in the 6th grade home room class at J.J. Bowlen Junior High School, our home room teacher was Mr. Merrills. I think you could say that up to that point in my life I had led a somewhat sheltered existence, the last of 7 siblings, (I am even willing to admit I was prolly a 'mama's boy'), although I was well read (for a 12 year old) I didn't have a lot of life experiences, Paul changed that.

Paul also came from a large family, he had 3 brothers and 2 sisters, and the brothers were always involved in working on fast cars, their garage was like a auto mechanic shop, Paul knew how to weld before he was 10 years old. So this naive kid starts hanging out with these guys and they really opened my eyes to the world, they were always tinkering with go-karts, small engines, mechanical stuff that I was never exposed to.

I am sure my Father was always disappointed I didn't inherit his carpenter genes, but he was 46 when I was born, and we never really had the solid Father-Son interaction needed to pass on those skills.

Paul and I were inseparable from Grade 6 through 9. When we were 15 we did a bike trip (pedal bikes) from Calgary to Banff to Jasper, much to the horror of my Mother. It was on that bicycle trip that we met a guy on a Honda CBX, a six cylinder motorcycle who was driving the Ice Field Parkway, that chance encounter weighed prominently in my life.

I had my first beer with Paul, we got into trouble together and had many great experiences together. I was often the test pilot for his frequent inventions, often with traumatic outcomes such as the land sail, or the hand pedaled recumbent, both of which suffered stability issues at speed!

His family kind of adopted me as well, not that I needed adopting, I came from a good home, but that was just the way the Slevinsky's worked, there was always room for another plate at the dinner table. That being said I think they suffered a certain amount of dysfunction right along with the rest of us. I hope you don't take any offense from this Paul (he is following the blog as well, so I have to be careful).

Paul didn't (and doesn't) do things the way normal people do them, and that is the highest complement I can pay him. Paul has this never ending stream of ideas and inventions pouring out of him, always chasing the dream, but not in the creepy Amway, or Melaluca, or World Financial way. I would not hesitate to call him a genius, possessing an innate knowledge and understanding of engineering principles, despite no formal education in the discipline.

To that end he never really had a real job since, maybe, high school, while the rest of us started to develop careers, or at least get a steady gig Paul did what he had to do to scrape by. He was trying to take an idea for an exercise system that used your own weight as the resistance, and was called 'The Gravity Edge'. He had a company called Simflex, which I believe I named one evening while we were living together in the early 90's.

After an incredible amount of hard work, the concept was picked up by SLM Action Sports who produced a highly acclaimed infomercial (pre internet days) starring Lorenzo Lamas as a dirt bike racer looking to find an edge over his opponents. A beautiful lady, sorry can't remember her name, introduces Lorenzo to The Gravity Edge. Paul was involved in tooling up factories, and readying the product for mass production.

SLM eventually sells 41 million dollars worth of $500.00 GE's worldwide. I have scoured the internet looking for that video, but without success. The few pictures on the net are low quality images of units for sale.

Paul worked tirelessly for several years trying to repeat the success of The Gravity Edge, but eventually moved towards designing a wheelchair elevator for residential use. That design, and Paul's engineering skills are picked up by a major elevator manufacturer and suddenly he is trotting the globe fixing problems, ending up in Fort Lauderdale.

If I look back on my life I can identify 6 individuals who shaped me into the person I am, maybe 6 seems like a lot, but each or collectively gave me a basic skill set that I made my own. Here they are, presented in no particular order or importance;

• Dan Merrills, home room teacher grades 6 - 9. Developed an interest in Science, especially having to do with the cosmos.
• My Father, who was pretty old when I was born, and had had a tough life. We didn't do the typical stuff like play catch, but he did instill in me a solid work ethic.
• My 3 Brothers-in-Laws Bill, Orrin and Harry also helped to foster an interest in science and the world around me.
• Paul Slevinsky who taught me to question everything, to follow your dreams and was the person that introduced me to motorcycles.

So Paul used to live on his boat in a canal in Ft. Lauderdale until the retirement home on the next block complained, now he rents this simple shack just behind his boat slip.



To anyone else these modest surroundings might seem to be below his stature, but it is not that way in Paul's case, he is if nothing else a simple man. His room contains the basic accommodations and a large drafting desk where the next dream is winding its way from paper to reality. He maintains a family home for his wife and children in Brampton, ON that he visits frequently.

Outside of his house is also this freaky spider web complex, about 30 feet across, patrolled by some scary looking arachnids. These pictures have nothing to do with the story, but you prolly came here today looking to thrilled by feats of daring on a motorcycle, not a character essay, so here some interesting pictures at least!



Paul's real motorcycles are in various stages of restoration back in Alberta and Ontario and he rides one of the ubiquitous scooters popular in the FtL area. It has been over 20 years since Paul and I rode together, I am sure we made quite the pair, him on his 100 cc scooter, myself on the 2300 cc Rocket. I did go against all of my own safety policies and rode sans helmet and leathers. You can give me **** when I get home! If you will recall I made a magnanimous statement about safety when I was in Key West, but here I am doing exactly what was I was preaching against!



We made the circuit of Paul's favorite haunts; a world famous diner, a great bar, an out of the way show and shine. The day started like we had only seen each other yesterday as the gulf of the years vanished between us and moved at a quick pace all day. We went for burgers and shrimp at a restaurant on the water, I let Paul ride my bike there, it was great to see him on a 'real' motorcycle for a change and he loved it.

After a late dinner we ended up at the hotel bar for a nightcap, and all too early it was time to separate, he had to go to work in the morning designing robots to assist wheelchair users. We shook hands as we parted, both pledging to keep in touch and to perhaps plan a reunion of the Fab 4 next summer, the year we all turn 50. I was more than a little choked up at saying good bye, and I am feeling the same way right now as I write this.

Addendum: Paul came out to Edmonton in June of 2015 for my surprise 50th Birthday Party. It was all planned by my wife and she was in communication with Paul for several months leading up to it. We got to spend the following Sunday together as we rode around Edmonton visiting some of our old haunts with him on Eryn's Intruder 1400. I had dinner at his sister Collette's house that night and saw most of his family, then had dinner with him the following evening before he departed for the UK.

For the whole year of 2015 I had been trying to arrange a gathering of some buddies from high school as we were all turning 50 this year. Cam Toner, Alan Firt, Neil Zurawell & Paul Slevinsky were friends from my teenage years and we had mostly fallen out of touch. After much haranguing back and forth we decided on a date in mid October and right up to the last minute we were hoping Paul would be able to attend. In the end he had a business trip in the UK at the same time, we held our weekend gathering, and Paul was missed.