So last night, I got home from the Keg Christmas party a bit early. Sarah and Dean were having a great time with their crew and I had to work at 7:30 in the morning, so I busted out. When I got home, I was idly changing channels and found Rudy playing on channel 39. It was at the part where Rudy and D-Bob open the letter to find out whether or not Rudy was accepted. Now, I get very emotional every time I watch Rudy because it’s inspiring, motivational and extremely honest. I love this movie. I had some thoughts as I was watching the movie, as I always do:

1) If you are doing what you love but you’re aren’t putting your heart into it then what you say is bullshit. If you truly love it, you’ll put your heart and soul into it. If you don’t have “time” or if you have other things getting in the way, then stop letting that happen.

2) If you have a dream, as Rudy says, find out what must you do to achieve that dream. Then do everything you can to do it. If you’re sitting back with all these lofty goals and dreams but you keep making excuses, then shut up and don’t talk about it until you’re ready to make a change and do something about it. Don’t let other people do the work and then try to ride their coattails. It’s not fair for them, and you won’t get as much out of it. Yes it’s hard to start something and then follow through and finish it. That’s human nature. But you have 100% control over what you do. Your decisions, your actions, and your activities that you do, that is all up to you.

Now, assuming you have a positive goal/dream, and the time you spend is actually being put to good use, I believe the following applies:

- If you’re with someone that doesn’t appreciate the time it takes to go after a goal/dream, then you’re not with the right person

- If you’re with someone who holds against you the amount of time you spend on your goal/dream, then you’re not with the right person

Why do I say this (and I realize those points may sound a bit harsh)?
It’s because no matter what you do in your life, you cannot do on your own. And to achieve a goal/dream in which your partner supported you in getting there is that much sweeter. My goal/dream is to not only reach my goals and dreams, but to share that with my partner, and to be able to share and support her in her goals and dreams.

Everyone should have a dream and they should have attainable dreams. When you reach your dream, set a new one and go after it. Your whole life should be a series of dreams and goals that you are constantly setting, working towards, achieving and then setting new ones.

If you’ve never watched Rudy, watch it. Incredible true story.

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So a strange thing happened this weekend…

I was on a pub crawl for hallowe’en which consisted of 5 bars and many drinks. After the crawl, my buddy Dean and I, and his friend/colleague Tom (owner of the company that ran the pub crawl), went to 1410; a bar on 17th Ave for some more drinking. Now, while we were there, the lights came, the music went down, and we got ready to leave. However, being Hallowe’en I was on the lookout for costumes; good bad, and fake. Fake you ask? Well, there were a lot of cops out on the town (real and dressed up) and earlier we were talking about the point of how would you know who was who? Anyway, I noticed a table of roughly 10 people in military uniforms. Now, they all looked so good and real that I knew they couldn’t be fake. But I went over to find out regardless. I ended up talking to this group for 20 or so minutes, and found out that they had just come from a dinner ceremony at SAIT. There were a few of them who had lots of bars on their jacket representing awards and status achieved.

Now, after about 10 minutes or so, Dean came over and joined in our conversation. And during this conversation, the strangest thing happened…we both got an intense sense of pride and respect for of all these people. It could have been partly due to the fact that we had consumed many liters of fine beer, or it could have been the fact that this group was so welcoming, humble, and decorated. I definitely think it was a combination of the two, and by the end of the chat, just as we were leaving, it was almost like a chill came over my body because of what it all meant to me at that moment. I mean yes, their job is to serve and protect us, but still. They risk their lives for us knowing that many of the jobs they take could be their last.

That being said, please, on November 11, take a moment of silence for those who have fought and died for us in the past, present and the future.

And while you’re at it, watch this great song by Terry Kelly about taking a moment of silence: http://youtube.com/watch?v=KYlrrAWCTRg

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So I listen to a lot of music. I am a huge fan of a lot of different bands that span quite a few genres of music. I thought I’d make a list of my favourite songs. Why? Because it makes me happy thinking about these songs. These are in no particular order and will be continually updated as I find new ones or remember current favourites. Without further adieu:

Theory of a Deadman – Santa Monica
Nickelback – Too Bad
Seether f. Amy Lee – Broken
Queen – Save Me
Queen – Don’t Stop Me Now
Queen – Hammer to Fall
Queen – We Are the Champions
Marc Cohn – House of Stone and Light
Theme song from the movie “Rudy”
Black Eyed Peas f. Sting – Union
Black Eyed Peas – Dum Diddly
Matchbox 20 – How Far We’ve Come
Breaking Benjamin – Forget It
Darude – Sandstorm
ATC – Around the World
Survivor – Eye of the Tiger
Robert Tepper – No Easy Way Out
AC/DC – Thunderstruck
AC/DC – Big Gun
AC/DC – Moneytalks
AC/DC – TNT
AC/DC – Hail Caesar
AC/DC – Are You Ready
Metallica – Turn the Page
Metallica – Fuel
Metallica – Whiskey in the Jar
Metallica – Unforgiven
Metallica – No Leaf Clover
Metallica – One
Ozzy Osbourne f. Lita Ford – Close My Eyes Forever
Michael Jackson – Billie Jean
Michael Jackson – Man in the Mirror
Michael Jackson – Thriller
Michael Jackson – Black or White
Jimmy Eat World – The Middle
Jimmy Eat World – Sweetness
Rascal Flattz – What Hurts the Most
Timbaland f. One Republic – Apologize
Scooter – The Logical Song
Pearl Jam – Reign O’er Me
Flipsyde – Train
Flipsyde – Someday
Deep Forrest – Sweet Lullaby
Beatles – Hey Jude
Murray Head – One Night in Bangkok
Rita McNeil – She’s Called Nova Scotia
Tesla – Tommy’s Down Home
John Lennon – Imagine
Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends
Billy Ocean – Loverboy
Billy Ocean – Caribbean Queen
Loverboy – Turn Me Loose
Hall and Oates – So Close
Simon and Garfunkel – Mrs. Robinson
Simon and Garfunkel – I Am a Rock
Simon and Garfunkel – Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon and Garfunkel – Sound of Silence
Guns ‘n Roses – Paradise City
Guns ‘n Roses – Welcome to the Jungle
Guns ‘n Roses – So Easy
Guns ‘n Roses – November Rain
Bush – Machinehead
Paul Filek – One Love
Joey Scarbury – The Greatest American Hero
Paul Filek – Toe Tappin’ Love
3 Doors Down – Citizen/Soldier
3 Doors Down – It’s Not My Time
3 Doors Down – Here By Me
3 Doors Down – Here Without You
3 Doors Down – When I’m Gone
3 Doors Down – Let Me Go
Ben Lee – We Are All In This Together
Chris Brown – Forever
Stevie Wonder – Master Blaster
Johnny Cash – Hurt
Johnny Cash – When the Man Comes Around
Sia – Academia
Ra – Do You Call My Name
Bubba Sparxxx – Deliverance
Robyn – Handle Me
Miley Cyrus – See You Again
Forrest Gump Theme
Indiana Jones Theme
Jurassic Park Theme
Juanes – La Camisa Negra (Juicy Mix)
Shiny Toy Guns – You Are the One
Imogen Heap – Hide and Seek
Ida Corr – Let Me Think About It
Rufus Wainwright – Hallelujah
Terry Kelly – A Pittance of Time
Ray LaMontagne – Empty

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Yea yeah, I’m sure there are many rants about passports and how it sucks we have to get them and how it sucks how long it takes to get them and how much they cost and yadda yadda yadda. But really it’s not that bad. Seriously. What I am ranting about however is the lack of desire, motivation, and lack of common sense in jobs (in this case a government job).

Alright, so I waited in line outside of the passport office for about 20 minutes. Fine. No big deal. And I knew that it would be about an hour once I got inside. Ok, no biggie. However, what I do have a problem with is the last 20 minutes of my waiting time. I got in around 2pm, so I figured I’d be done by 3. Well, around 2:45 – 2:55, 7 of the 9 agents decide to take their coffee breaks at the same time. So, for about 25 minutes, there was only 2 agents doing applications. Which meant that everyone sat there until 3:15 and NOBODY got waited on. I was going to complain or say something to the manager, but since I really need my passport for 3 weeks I felt it wise to keep my mouth shut in case they might red flag me or something for being a jackass. Ah well, 1.5 hours of waiting and I got my passport application in. Sweet. California, here I come. Again.

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In case you haven’t heard this great song by Billy Joel, I recommend listening to it before reading the rest of this post…you can listen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFTLKWw542g

Just today, while listening to some Billy Joel, I was reintroduced to this great great song. In high school, our Outdoor Pursuits teacher, Mr. Fletcher, gave us an assignment to look up every historical reference in this song and find out what it meant. The assignment was worth something like 112 points – which equaled the number of historical references in the song. He was a huge history buff, and thought it would be an interested assignment. Which it was. However, whether he knew it or not, there are websites devoted to this song, and each historical reference is linked to a corresponding page with some information about that reference. So the assignment, while informative, was quite easy.

Here are the lyrics to the song, with the references linked (I’m sure some of the links don’t work as this is an old site):

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom
Brando, “The King and I”, and “The Catcher in the Rye”

Eisenhower, vaccine, England’s got a new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana goodbye

CHORUS
We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Josef Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

A super video of the song: Billy Joel – “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

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So in 2 weeks, we’re (Invictus) is headed to Santa Cruz, California for Labor Day Classic; probably the premiere frisbee tournament anywhere in the world (along with ECC). We’re competing against teams like Sockeye, Furious, Rhino, Bravo, Revolver, Jam and others. Damn it’s going to be fun.

Oh, and I’ve never been to Cali before. I wish I could take some time off to just chill on the beach, but really I think I’ll save that for a cold week in the winter. Reading week anyone?

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Sometimes we reach a certain period in our lives in which we’ve forgotten our roots. The past few days have felt like such a period. Well don’t fear. I have rediscovered my true self. What is this true self that I speak of. What is it that I’ve forgotten. What is it that truly defines who I am as an individual, both spirtually, mentally, physically, and scentwise? Well, it can really only be one thing. That thing is Kenny Rogers Jackass. I get mopey. That happens when I don’t watch Kenny Rogers Jackass at least once a week. Well, I watched it tonight. Here’s to a fantastic week.

Of particular note, and really the core of my inner being, is the Batfetcher with your teeth. If you haven’t tried it, you really haven’t lived until you’ve caught a Louisville Slugger in your pearly whites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV6In1K8zKk

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Dear God, I really thought that I had seen everything. Apparently not. Check this out:http://tlc.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=2.14464.55746.27637.2

On this show, they featured 4 people who were morbidly obese. One guy consumed 36,000 calories in one day. More than a normal man should be consuming in 2 WEEKS! He was spending roughly $14,000 a year on chocolate bars! He ate 48 bags of chips in one day. Snacks alone contributed for 23,000 calories. He’s eating enough to gain 4 pounds PER DAY. He hasn’t walked in 6 years. Here they go featuring drug addicts on the tv show Intervention on A&E, and why has there not been a similar show for these food addicts? Are they not much worse? Where does he get the money to do this? Where does any of them get the money to afford the food they are eating? This guy re-mortgaged his house, and ended up spending half of that money on food. I was honestly speechless watching this show. There are so many problems in the world, but I honestly believe that food is the worst issue (drug) of all. Look at all the restaurants in Calgary. So much fat, sodium, sugar, and calories. Why is nothing being done? Why are people fat? Why don’t people exercise? Why do people spend so much money on food? Why do greedy companies like McDonald’s, KFC, Krispy Kreme, and others care so little about the health of humans, and so much about making profits? Why not make the push to go into healthy food? Healthy food can taste great and not load the pounds on us. Something needs to be done. We need to speak up about this. Sure, there are many other issues that need to be dealt with, but what will those issues matter when people are dying of being fat? Seriously. It’s outrageous.

This has been bugging me for a long time, and it seems that there are many news reports on about this, but what is actually being done? Why are these reports being shown on tv? Is anything actually being done?

I haven’t really asked this before, but I would love to hear any thoughts or comments you have on what I believe is a continental epidemic. Not just in North America, but also in Europe (where the show above was filmed).

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Check it out:

Pool balls and dominoes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GA3ySz4el4&NR

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Check out this dude from the Arizona Cardinals get some height. More specifically, he jumps 66″ with a 3 step start.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7vL19q8yL54?

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