Parking is, to put it lightly, annoying.

Think about what parking is. Your car is sitting on the ground. Yet you have to pay for it to sit on the ground. Maybe you could have like a time share system. You use someone else’s parking spot downtown and they use your spot somewhere else.

Have you ever seen those garage type parking systems? Like the one in the pic. They’re so sweet. Efficient since all of the spaces are optimized to fit a car and there’s no wasted space. But, what happens if your car becomes like a chocolate bar in a vending machine and gets stuck halfway out? Then convenience and efficiency turns into hassle.

I get why we’re charged for parking. And I understand that people have come to expect to pay for parking. But honestly can’t they make money another way? The amount we spend on vehicles is high enough already between car payments, insurance and gas so why not cut us a break?

I think the government should do something about it. For university students, it’s outrageous how much they have to spend to park to go to school. No wonder so many people try to park for free and get tickets for risking it.

Popularity: 11% [?]

When you want to do something, whether it’s apply for a job, try out for a sports team or set a goal, who do you listen to?

Do you let your friends tell you what you can or cannot do?

Do you let your parents?

Your boss?

Or yourself?

Of everyone, shouldn’t you listen to yourself?

So why is it that so often we let what others say dictate our decisions? Why don’t we instead know what we want, believe in ourself and go for it? By not doing something we fail. By doing it, the worst case is fail; best case is success. So there is no do not; there is only do. Think about that. And go for it.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Do you know what I mean? Like when you eat ice cream while having a beer? Some think it’s strange. I think it makes perfect sense. Eating good things together can only equal goodness. Well, in theory right? Here are some more of the food combos I like. What are yours?

• Soda crackers and yogurt
• Peanut butter and chocolate chips sandwich
• Peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie sandwich
• Soda crackers, yogurt and chocolate easter eggs
• Soda crackers and ice cream
• Soup and pasta
• Chicken and cream of mushroom soup
• Cheese Whiz and sandwich spread (smelled like salmon…odd)
• Soda crackers dipped in chocolate pudding
• Rice cakes dipped in chocolate pudding

It’s fun trying new combinations. Leads to trying new food. And not being nervous about really eating anything. Try it sometime. And if you ever have me over for dinner, make sure you have lots of soda crackers, beer and ice cream for dessert.

Popularity: 13% [?]

You hear a lot of talk about how it’s our life and our decisions and that we have the power to make whichever decisions we want; good or bad.

So why is it many people feel like their life is out of their control? What happened to cause that? How can they get it back?

I have been in this situation before. I felt like I had committed to doing so many things that I wasn’t really into doing that it was negatively affecting my personal well being. I would over commit and be too busy. But when I wasn’t busy, I felt like I should be. So what to do?

1. Realize that you can say no. You don’t always have to say yes when someone asks you a favour. Consider what you’re getting out of it, what they’re getting out of it, if you have the time and energy to say yes and then give them your answer. It’s ok to say no. It may take some time to realize that but you need time for yourself too.

2. Start doing the things which you really love doing. Don’t busy yourself with activities which aren’t right for you. Doing things which drain your energy isn’t good for you. And you don’t have to do them. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But you should definitely be doing things that you love and that are good for you.

That’s it. Two very simple things. Start off by doing them. Everyday, make a conscious decision based on these two points and it’s amazing how much clearer your mind will feel. It’s amazing how much happier you will be. And it’s amazing how much more in control of your own life you will feel.

Popularity: 7% [?]

On Tuesday school starts again at the U of C. I’m back in 4 classes each semester and will finally be getting my degree after having started almost 10 years ago. It’s been an interesting 9 years and here are some things I’ve learned/done in those past 9 years:

1) Lost my mom

2) Lost my grandfather

3) Learned how to play ultimate frisbee

4) Taught myself how to build websites

5) Met a lot of amazing people

6) Lived in 3 provinces and 8 different places

7) Attended 4 universities in 3 provinces

Had 14 jobs

9) Lost some friends – made lots of new friends

10) Completely changed my career focus

11) Discovered my passion in life

12) Got 3 speeding tickets

13) Bought my first car

14) Had my first love

15) And have been a part of many amazing trips, groups, parties, adventures and events

I wouldn’t change it all for anything. As hard as some of it has been, it’s made me who I am today. Very cliche to say but it’s true. The worst thing ever and the best thing ever happened to me – losing my mom and finding my passion. Knowing that she would be happy with what I’m doing makes it all worth it, what I’ve gone through to get here. Sometimes it’s nice to look back on a period of your life and reflect. You could almost consider it to be an era of my life ending and a new one starting. But really there’s multiple parts of my life right now so just one part of that is going to be over when I graduate in April. It’s been a good run, I’ve learned a lot and still have a lot left to learn. Here’s to living life!

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’ve read a few articles now which deal with this issue. The first was from  and an interview with President Obama. They were asking him a lot of religious questions and one in particular, they asked him about abortion. He spoke about unplanned pregnancies and how instead of focusing on the actual fact that they are pregnant and what we should do about that, we should instead focus on why they’re becoming pregnant in the first place. Prevention versus treatment of the issue. (not to say treatment isn’t important…but it doesn’t solve the core problem)

The second article I read was from Seth Godin’s blog and it was titled “Bear Shaving“. Seth is a leader in market thinking and has some great perceptions into how things are done, how they should be done, and why they end up being done the way they are. He used several examples but the one about bears spoke to shaving a bear so it could deal with global warming instead of actually dealing with the global warming issue.

There exist many examples of “bear shaving” and the way to fix this approach is two-fold. Find a way to treat the issue, but more importantly, find a prevention to the issue. We tend to focus on the treatment because it’s in our face. It’s a short term solution and so we feel as though something is being done when in reality it’s not at all. We need to shift out thinking and realize that we need to educate people about things that are happening to cause the issue in the end.

A great example of this is the obesity problem. There are so many drug companies developing all these “miracle” cures and pills and drinks and diets and it’s all Bullshit. What we need to do (and watch The Biggest Loser for proof) is to 1) Eat well and 2) Exercise. This needs to start with our children. When I was a kid I played sports, my mom/dad would cook for us and we never had to worry about weight. But, as our kids grow up and have kids of their own, the problem only gets worse. Families who don’t know about proper nutrition and exercise need to be educated. Our kids need to get back into sports and eat less junk. This will lead to a larger prevention of obesity. Diets and drugs only work so long. There needs to be a shift in our thinking. And healthier people equals happier people equals a better world.

The next time you encounter a problem, ask yourself “am I about to shave a bear?”

Popularity: 3% [?]

I’ve been meaning to blog about this happening for a while now. Some of you know what happened; most don’t. I figured I should write a bit about what happened since the majority of us in our lifetime will never be a witness to a robbery and there are a few things to be learned from it.

The day was Thursday, October 2, 2008 (technically the Friday since it was past midnight) and I had just left Paul Filek’s show at the Balance Lounge in Calgary, Alberta.

As normally happens, when I’m up late, I get a craving for junk food. So, I stopped at the Petro Canada in Riverbend to pick up some snacks. I had collected a few things and walked up to pay when out of the corner of my eye, I saw a guy walk in the door. I put the snacks on the counter when I noticed that this guy had a ski mask on and was holding a gun, pointing it at me. As he walked towards me, he yelled at me to “Get down on the ground.” So, I put my hands up and laid face first on the floor of the Petro Canada. While I’m lying there this guy proceeds to steal a whole bunch of smokes and money from the clerk. In the back of my mind I’m thinking “that gun didn’t look real.” It looked too flimsy and I had thoughts about getting up and tackling the guy – I was bigger than he was – but on the chance that it was a real gun, I didn’t want the clerk to be shot for some money and smokes so I stayed on the ground.

After the robber left, I got up and the clerk was freaking out and was in the process of dialing 911 (I had to get on the phone with them since his normally thick accent was even thicker and very hard to understand). To make a long story short, I waited there for the cops to show up. They got me to provide a description of the robber (along with 2 other witnesses who were outside at the time) and of the situation. Granted, the description which the 3 of us provided really weren’t the same. The colour of his mask, what he was wearing, and the colour of his skin – we all weren’t exactly sure.

So, given what happened after the robbery I certainly learned to be more aware of the circumstances in an intense situation like this (a la Hardy Boys) but really I won’t know if I’ve learned to be more attentive until I’m in a similar situation. Which, knock on wood, I’m not again.

Also, if a guy holding a gun (even if it fake – cops later recovered it and it was) tells you to get on the ground…you get on the ground…

Oh and I’ve also learned that eating junk food CAN be potentially bad for your health. In more ways than one.

Popularity: 4% [?]

I’d like to introduce this post with an excerpt from Martin Luther King Jr’s speech titled “Love Your Enemies” on November 17, 1957.

Now, I’m aware of the fact that some people will not like you, not because of something you have done to them, but they just won’t like you. I’m quite aware of that. Some people aren’t going to like the way you walk; some people aren’t going to like the way you talk. Some people aren’t going to like you because you can do your job better than they can do theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you because other people like you, and because you’re popular, and because you’re well-liked, they aren’t going to like you. Some people aren’t going to like you because your hair is a little shorter than theirs or your hair is a little longer than theirs. Some people aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little brighter than theirs; and others aren’t going to like you because your skin is a little darker than theirs.

But after looking at these things and admitting these things, we must face the fact that an individual might dislike us because of something that we’ve done deep down in the past, some personality attribute that we possess, something that we’ve done deep down in the past and we’ve forgotten about it; but it was that something that aroused the hate response within the individual. That is why I say, begin with yourself. There might be something within you that arouses the tragic hate response in the other individual.

What do we do when we encounter someone who doesn’t like us?

There are 2 things we can do.

The first is to not worry about it. Life is too short to worry what someone else thinks of us. If they can’t like us for who we are then that’s their problem; not ours.

And the second, as Dr. King alludes to, is that perhaps there is something within us which has evoked the emotion of dislike from the other person. If that exists, explore that. If it doesn’t, then see scenario number 1 above.

Popularity: 10% [?]

The Ham Butt Problem (taken from: http://www.ted.com/talks/erin_mckean_redefines_the_dictionary.html):

Woman’s making a ham for the big family dinner. She goes to cut the butt off the ham and throw it away, and she looks at this piece of ham and she’s like, “This is a perfectly good piece of ham. Why am I throwing this away?” She thought, “Well my mom always did this.” So she calls up Mom, and she says, “Mom, why’d you cut the butt off the ham when you’re making a ham?” Her mom says, “I don’t know, my mom always did it!” So they call Grandma, and Grandma says, “My pan was too small!”

How many times have we heard this before? We do something because that’s how it’s always been done. As much as it’s efficient as a species to learn from experience, sometimes our experience can be based on factors which no longer exist or no longer influence our decisions. How best do we approach a problem without letting the past influence us too much? Simple. Think about why you do what you do. If something seems a bit off, there’s probably a reason for that.

As Einstein famously said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”

Live and think consciously. You never know when you’re going to be cooking a ham.

Popularity: 16% [?]

I’m flying home to visit my family tomorrow night. I haven’t seen them all in 2.5 years. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long and it makes me sad. I’ve put so many other things ahead of taking trips home and for what?

Sure I’ve enjoyed playing in ultimate tournaments. And going on road trips has been great. But really when it matters, family is who’s been there for me. And I’m so proud of them. Margo just tied for 2nd at the NB Ladies Golf provincials and is on the team for Nationals. And Dad is happy being a teacher and is enjoying his summer golfing. I can’t wait to get out and play some golf with him. Just hang out with him and talk. It’s been a long time since we’ve done that. And I’m going to our family cottage in PEI for 3 days. Nick, Natalie, Tina, Steve and Grandma will all be there. How amazing is that? I haven’t been to the cottage in 8 years! I can’t wait to hang out in the yard and on the beach and play games with the family. I think I need this trip more than I realize. It’s very easy to get caught up in your life so much that you neglect the really important things in life. Those people who really care about you.

I also am going to get to visit Grandma in New Glasgow. I got to spend some time with her last fall when she was out visiting the Salomons but it’s always nice to see her in NS. Although this will be the first time I’ll be in the house since Grandpa passed away I’m also going to visit mom’s grave and throw some pennies in the pond. It will be the first time doing that without Margo which will be sad but I think I need some time alone with her. I feel like I’ve lost some of my morals since I was last home and I really need to reclaim those. I haven’t been feeling myself lately and I need to figure out how to get that back.

I’m also going to be running some ultimate clinics in Woodstock for the rec department. I’m doing 3; one for 5-8 year olds, one for 9+ and one for adults. I’m pretty stoked to be doing them as Woodstock hasn’t really seen ultimate before (maybe the high school teacher throwing the dad variety) so this should be pretty neat for them. I’m basically going to teach them throwing/catching, some basic gameplay and then run a scrimmage. And encourage them to get something started if they’re interested. It will be a good way to promote Ultimate Rob and teach some more people how awesome ultimate is.

And finally, I’m going to be playing in the Parlee Beach ultimate frisbee tournament with JD and some Fredericton folk. I haven’t played Parlee in 5 years so I’m pretty stoked to be playing again. I’m hoping my ankle will be 100% by the time I play (I have 10 days so we’ll see). And the last time I played we lost in the finals (and I felt like a rookie playing) so this time will be much better 

I’m just so excited to go. Lots of pics to come!

Popularity: 4% [?]