2007: Year of "Moderate" Action

New Challenge

Vance has again laid down the Triathlon Challenge...

So I thought I would write about it instead of Training.

My Strategy is in the beginning is to increase my flexibility so I don't Hurt myself. Try and Get in the pool a couple of times a week, and do some lightish weight training.

I think I will hurt myself anyways.

The think I am working on now is Diet. ( well that isn't exactly true. I am working on Playulists for my iPod) I am not too concerned at this very moment, but I am hoping by the end of the month I will have a good plan in place for maximum return.

The Unmotivated Blues

This is me being not motivated enough to even blog. My Life has has some disruptions the last little while so I have not been extra focused on my Actions. I suppose this is the New Year's Resolution Blues. Good thing that these aren't new years resolutions.

It is March 11, and I jsut got back from Nakiska. So small victory for my actions list, but it was mostly just a distraction to the changes in my lifestyle. This was a small goal, my bigger goals are not becoming reality. I moved to Calgary and jammed myself in this small place with a friend. Working in the city has its benifits. But it also has its drawbacks. The Drawback is the working hours are extended slightly, and it is a pain to get anywhere, especially being new to the city. I am unsure of where things are and how to get there and such.

However I am trying to develop a strategy to make it work. Running on my Lunch Break. There is a shower in the office buildig that I can use. I just hope that I can get away with keeping my sweaty clothes contained somewhere for the week. This is the Beauty of the "NO STYLE" hairstyle.

I still have some swimming issues, but I have always had those, I just have to be prepared, and my access to swimming pools has signifigantly increased, so I just have to be on top of it, and have it planned out.

I haven't done anything about the online course, I don't know how I could do it with this other crap in the City. At Camp it would be a different story. I will give myself a deadline of Sept. before I Must enroll in something useful.

This is the Status. 

I am too Busy DOING things

Okay after passing on my Deadline. I have thought out what I want my actions, to be...

Well not exactly I am making it up on the spot now, but here it goes:

Education. I will try out an online course this year.

Fitness. Be able to complete all the aspects of a Half Iron man. Not at once, but each aspect seperately. These are 2 km swim, 96 k bike, 21km run. This is alot dude. I don't plan on running a Half Ironman ever. But if I can do each one of these Once this year I will have accomplished what I set out to do. I would also like to gain 10lbs. The weight gain is secondary accomplishment to the endurance activities.

Entertainment: Go skiing 2 more ski days before the season ends, Wakeboarding once this year, and I want to try Kite Boarding (anyone else interested in doing that with me?) I also want to know what every dial and setting on my camera does, and to be able to read light conditions for desired results.

Notice that I have no travel goals. This is a goal in itself to not plan anything big... but if it happens it was meant to happen.

I would also like to put some goals for work in here, but at present, I have no stablity as to where I will be going, and what I will be asked to do. So therefore if I don't know what I am going to do, I can't confirm any tangable actions to it.

Actions not Ideals

2007: the Year of Action is based on actions, or refraining from actions. It is not to be a wishy-washy sunshine blog.

Actions are always the most important thing:

The smallest of good deeds are more valuable than the grandest of good intentions.

However, here is my diatribe to those who want to improve there life in abstract and non-linear ways. Sandra and I were talking and we discovered a problem with "2007: the year of action". The problem was that sometimes there are things that you want to improve about yourself, that are not logically actionable. After thinking about it for a bit, if it isn't actionable, you don't need to improve it.

Decide on (1)what you would like to accomplish, (2)what are the things that make up this accomplishment, and (3)actions that you can do to improve that task.

Example: One of the things that i would like to accomplish is to become more focused at work and outside work.

1) Be more focused

2) Concentrate longer on single task, refrain from daydreaming

3) Read Books, Do Crosswords or Soduku until complete.

Even if the actions are not 100% to the point, they remind you that that is something that you are working on and that you deliberately think about it instead of letting it slip away.

On an alternate note, "2007: the year of action", does not require you to list what your accomplishments are, you can divulge and it might make it easier for others to actively participate and give ideas and positive energy towards your goals, but it is not required. The key is to divulge what your ACTIONS are and be accountable for the things that you actually want to do in "2007: the year of action"

Ty

The Beginning of the year of Action.

This is not to be taken lightly.

2007 is the YEAR OF ACTION.

Starting with the first 1/12th of the year deciding which actions to be taken. How they can be evaluated as successes or failures, and obtaining objectives that are beneficial and practical. The platform here is to evaluate my goals and make them public for everyone to see the direction that I am heading and to be accountable to others for the decisions that i make to better myself. If this works I will have a network of people who believe in me, and people who i believe in, to make ourselves better more successful people.

What are these goals going to be?

These goals have to be carefully thought out, strategies placed and documented. Unfortunately not all goals are tangible. The clear cut ones are such as "I want to run a 4 minute mile" but the really hard ones aren't, such as "I want to be more social"

The key to the year of action is -- just as the title indicates "ACTION" Taking steps in the right direction is the only way to achieve the goals.

I am calling on all people to join me in my year of action. Drafts for Goals will be required by the end of the week on Jan 22 and final goals and strategies, and timetables are to be completed by Jan 31.

High Time

Here it is Dec.

It is Freaky cold out, and I am totally unimpressed. Although I have not to be outside for terribly long at any given time i am still unimpressed with the weather. What is it that possesses us to live here? Why Canada?

I think originally that settlers came to Canada to find free land. There were a lot of Ukrainians that settled in this area I think (this is from my own Ukrainian Books that I wrote) because it was similar to the land they knew how to live off of. It reminded them of the plains back in the homeland, complete with the cold weather. So they got there land, killed whoever was there at the time, and stayed. There was a economic incentive for them to stay here. They could make a life that is better for them here. Now that we are here, we are in a similar time with the oil patch. There are many people who flock to the area where they can work and "make a better life for themselves". So what the hell is everyone else doing here??? and can't we do all the same work other places in the world where it is nicer to be outside.

Canadians have this image of loving the outdoors, which I believe to be true. We do love the outdoors, but only because most of the time we have to spend it hiding in centrally heated insulated buildings, and we have to get out or we will inhale house dust until it clogs all out alveoli.

Canadians have done some pretty spectacular things in the few hundred years after our European ancestors over ran this place. Maybe we should embrace our history and do it again. Except this time, pick some damn place that is nice to live, and we could buy them out instead of packing out muskets and shooting them. Temperate, humid, filled with resources, and where we can build houses that need A/C instead of under floor heating.

This is my proposal. we have a lot of infrastructure here. It has got to be worth something. I say we find a 3rd world nation, which has a significant coastal landmass, and make a switch. How about Angola. Everyone in Canada moves to Angola, and all the Angolans come and live in Canada. This is a win win. We get warm weather, beaches,  off shore oil reserves, Environmental amenities. Whatever we don't have, Canadians are able to construct it. Angolans on the other hand receive an infrastructure that is beyond what they could ever hope for, and resources that are labour intensive so everyone can work.

The downside is Angola has snakes, and poor neighbors. But their are more options. How about Guyana or all them countries just north of Brazil. I think there is Oil Sands there... I think we can work there. Or Shit, we could still work in the Frozen tundra we call home, but we would just have a longer flight home.

This Idea sounds crazy, but really is it any more crazy than coming to Canada the first time?? That was pretty nuts too.

Looking at Google Earth these are reasonable options:

Guyana/Suriname/French Guiana(this could be Quebec??)

Angola

Gabon/Congo(just the Coast Section and where ever the diamonds are) (Not Cameroon, cause we dont' want Nigerian Neighbours)

Somalia is not a bad choice

Tunisia/Algeria

Isreal/Palestine (think how many problems this would solve! they could give the Palesinians PEI)

Madagascar!!! this is good

Iran (I dont' the the US would like this one, but what do we care, we are  outta here!)

Myanmar

Bangladesh

Vietnam (this is half done for us already!)

Indonesia

Papua New Guinea (create better neighbours for the Aussies!)

Now this all sounds bad: You are probably syaing to yourself "I don't want to live in Myanmar!" but what the vision entails is that all the people move out, and we replace them with Canadians! So there would only be the natural wonders that exist there, and all the people you know and love from Canada would be there.

I am taking this Idea to our MP.

Proliferation: for good or evil?

This is a thought I started at the End of July, but i needed to get it out before it totally perished:

Yesterday was the 25th birthday of the first "real" PC. I read this on my personalized preset news which broadcasts on my computer home page daily. I breezed through the daily events as one article catches my eye. IBM came out with computers for households and the every-day-guy. I was reminiscing and becoming nostalgic with the computers that I used to use when I was a Kid. The Apple IIe in school which I played Oregon Trail on, and then the Commodore 64 on which I played Impossible Mission, and Jumpman on. After that there was an Apple color classic, which was the first computer we hooked our 14.4 modem on, and out came e-mail and internet. To my laptop which I am on now, that I would have a tough time sending an e-mail on that was under 64K.

The change of technology I have grown with, it has been in my hands, and i have been free to explore games and learn by accident, fumbling through cyberspace...

In an alternate article I read today, Bill Gates is leading the push to find a solution to the AIDS epedemic. Coincidentally it was in 1981 which the first reported case was discovered; 25 years ago. The Birth of AIDS is about 5 weeks younger than the Birth of the PC.

The proliferation of both has been rampant. The statistics are similar. The spread of computers has been on par with the spread of AIDS. And then I think about how much I know about computers, and how nearly everything I know about the AIDS epidemic has come from news that I read over the computer.

It puts things in perspective when you look around the first world. If all the Computers in the world represent one individual with HIV/AIDS, I know I can’t really go anywhere and not see a computer anymore. This is also true with AIDS; however it is geographically and economically segregated; as are Computers.

Two separate things that share a coincidental Birthday, one propelling knowledge and communication, and one propelling death and hardship. Can one balance the other in a global equilibrium? Or is it a benchmark indicator of the growing distance between the wealthy and the impoverished?

What holds the Value? Where is the Research going? Making Better Computers? Making lives better for the AIDS inflicted people and nations? Research Dollars for PC’s is not known due to private industry, but AIDS dollars has been well documented. If I was to hazard a guess, I would say that Bill Gates has spent more money on PC R&D than the Globe has spent on AIDS R&D.

Is it right to spend the money on chasing money? Or is better to spend the money on saving impoverished nations? This of course is a rhetorical and cyclical argument. OF course it is good to Propel nations out of Poverty (if that is even possible) but you still need money to do it, and money doesn't come from nowhere.

More Pictures

Vance did a much better job than I on getting pictures on the web for people to see.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/554235408wBXjao?start=0

Check it out.

Ty

Back from North of 66

I have put in some pics, in my photo album called "Arctic Whirlwind" I have taken about a 1000 pictures on the trip, so these are just the highlights.

Digital Cameras are awesome, you can fire away and you never have to change a roll of film, or worry about developing costs. So I did, and I took over 100 picutres of Bears, and over 100 pictures of one wolf.

I have also have had a few comments from a few sources, that digital cameras are cheating. I am starting to come around to that prespective. Of the over 100 pictures, I took of that Wolf, I deleted half of them straight away, because he was partially behind a bush or totally out of focus. I wasn't paitent and I don't think i learned anything about photography on the trip. I think that if you do anything 1000 times you should learn something about it.

On retrospect, I could have taken half the amount of pictures and probably gotten better ones, if I didn't rely on the Auto-Focus all the time, took the time to set up the Tripod, and took a bit of a look at the light meter. But at the time, you see an animal and you get crazy. Fire the camera 3 times, for 3 times the same picture, if in focus or not.

Low and Behold, I did get a few good ones so Enjoy the Photo Album.

Ty

This is AWESOME

http://timetraveler.ytmnd.com/

thanks Vance