My Musings

The Bell Tolls for Thee

2011-10-06T00:29:00.001-06:00

It's everywhere. The news today that Steve Job's passed away. When I found out I felt sad. I was sad that Steve Job's passed away. Why? I never knew the man. It's been said he revolutionized the way people see the world. It's been said that he was a visionary. It's been said ... it's been said ... it's been said ... As I read the many tweet's, Facebook statuses, and tech blogs about Job's death I immediately thought of the poem "For Whom the Bell Toll's" by Jon Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.

Steve Job's was an inventor, an innovator and a businessman. He dreamed big and he just so happened to be at the right place to put his dreams into reality. Apple will still be around tomorrow, although their stock might drop a few points.There are still people at Apple who dream big, and the products that Apple releases will still be, in my opinion, brilliant. But what the world is now lacking is spirit of innovation and creativity that Jobs brought. The world is a little less now because a part of it was been washed away by the sea, to borrow Donnes words.

So I think that the reason that I was sad to hear the Job's passed away is because I am involved in mankind and now I will no longer be able to benefit from that one man's passion. But the lesson here is not to raise one man up on a pedestal, but to also try to be that kind of person in the world around me. To think each day, is what I am doing in life befitting the world around me. When I die will those around me say, his death dimities us.

It's just a late night thought ...

~ Until next time

Not Only am I Handy ... I can cook too!

2011-09-03T22:48:00.000-06:00

Eva and I made a pizza together! It was fun times!

I have great pizza recipe. Here it is:

3/4 cup warm water

1/3 vegatable oil

1 tsb sugar

1tsb salt

1 tbsp yeast ( I use Fleshman's Quick Rise)

2 cups of flour

Mix the first 5 ingredients and let sit for 10 minutes
Add flour and mix.
Once you have the dough place on oiled pizza stone or pan and bake for 4 minutes in the oven at 450F
Add toppings and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.
Lastly enjoy!

There you go! It was a tasty pizza!

The only thing better than pizza is new tools!

Here's my new drill! It's totally sweet!

~ Untill next time!

Am I handy or what?

2011-09-01T14:59:00.002-06:00

So I'm not handy. I'll let you know that right now. You know the adage, "measure twice, cut once" well most of the time with me it turns out measure eight times, and screw it up so I have to cute twice. My idea of being handy is to call someone who is. This should come to you as a surprise because my dad used it build houses, and hydro electric dams. He also taught carpentry at the college in Prince George. He's pretty handy, I am not. The apple has fallen far from the tree in this aspect.

BUT wait for it ... this month I've taken a great leap forward ... so here's the story.

For about eight months the drain pipe under our sink has been leaking. The reason it was leaking was because it looked like this ...

Like I said, I'm not handy, but I've watched enough Holm on Homes to know when something is messed up!! Like I said, that pipe had been leaking for eight months, and the water was slowly but surely making it's way through the insulation leaving a trail of toxic mold in it's wake. Our renter informed us that her carpet was wet which was the first indication that something was amiss. It was only when I ripped down the wall that I discovered the problem . Having our drain pipe leaking in a sense was an answer to prayer. We thought that the water was coming in from the outside. That would have meant spending WAY more money to fix it.

Here I am tearing it all apart

Initially Kathy and I decided to call a contractor, he came once to tell us the problem was then never called us back again. This was at first sucky. I find it really annoying when a professional doesn't act in a professional manner. For the contractor to not return any of my calls (I called 3 times) is particularly rude. If you are a professional of some sort and you don't want to do a job just tell me straight up. So anyways, we never heard from him again so that left it up to us. And when I say, us, I mean me.

I had a general idea of what to do, so I began plugging away. Ripping out the wall, scrubbing mold off, putting up new poly and insulation

and lastly drywall and mud.

Kathy did the painting, and yesterday we installed the carpet. So in the end the room looks like this .

All in all I'm happy with the result. I learned some new things, and improved on some stuff that I already knew, and I'm actually happy that we didn't get somebody to come and do it for us. I can now say that I'm still not a handy man, but I can get the job done if I need to! And that's saying something!

~ Until next time.

Home!

2011-07-31T13:16:00.003-06:00

It's good to be home. I've been home for a couple days now, well one full day and a bit. I got home Friday at around 4:30. It was great to see my family again! Eva and Kathy had made me a sign and hung it on the window. Eva was really quite proud of it.

I left Calgary on Thursday morning. Jeff made me bacon and eggs for breakfast! It was super great! Tilly had to work so she wasn't around when I got up, and I left their place just as the carpet guys came …. hopefully everything went alright. The drive was long. I stopped for a walk in Medicine Hat, and had super in Swift Current. It was pretty dull day. I as going to spend the night in Regina, but unfortunately Jordan Courtney had the flu. Total bummer! So I decided that I was going to spend the night in Moose Jaw. The summer Eva was born, Kathy and I camped under the big moose. There's a Tim Hortons across the street, and the price to park there for the night was good … free! I like free! There were a few others who camped there for the night. So when I got to Moose Jaw I went and got something to drink, and sat watching the cars on the highway go buy. I chatted with Kathy for a bit then went to sleep. Like I said, not a very exciting day.

I was up early on Friday, so after hitting up Tim's again I made my way to Regina. I decided to go visit the old campus of Canadian Bible College. I spend thee years there, besides many of my current friends, I met Kathy there. So it has a special place in my heart. I still remember my freshman year. My dad put my on the plane on September 1^st, all my earthly possessions in two duffle bags. I knew nobody, and I was only 19. I got off the plane and met Joe Chan. I don't think it was very hard to point me out in a crowd. A lost looking kid with a funny hat and huge side burns. He was my first friend and I ended up going for coffee with him and a few others later on that day. It's funny cause when I first met Kathy she didn't really talk to me, and I though she was a snob, and she says she was shy cause she thought I was really popular cause I hung out with all the upper-classmen! I was just in the right place at the right time. My first dorm was Skitch Two. I still have one of the relics from there. The ARA hat. I was only in that dorm one year, the next year they shut it down cause enrollment was down. So my second year I was in Brooks One South, there were two assistant RA's that year cause many of the guys from Skitch went to that dorm. Anyways, my freshman year on Skitch Two was awesome! My RA's was Stevens. He was a big black guy, and his black-ness rubbed off on us. He even taught us how to iron our dress shirts, cause he wasn't gonna have any of his guys going out looking like they just rolled out of bed! It was fun.

Back to Kathy, she was also in Skitch that year. For the first time ever Skitch was divided into two. Guys were upstairs and girls down. There was an electronic alarm that separated guys and girls. We each had our own entrance so we couldn't mingle and cause all kinds of hanky-panky. But what is even weirder was that Kathy's room was right below mine AND we even slept on the same side of the room. So we were destined to be together.

But I was shy, contrary to popular belief, so it took me for ever to ask her to the Christmas Banquet that year. I finally did it for fear that someone else would ask her. She was also the one who broke the ice with the “I really like you” line. She was my first girlfriend, so I was nervous. Our first date was to the symphony and then out for desert. But it was a “not-a-date” cause we were “just friend”! Our friend Grady eventually got sick of us being “just friends” so he provided the tickets. He told me that he bought them for him and his girlfriend and then “wasn't” able to go anymore and that I should have them and take somebody special, knowing full well that I wold take Kathy. So that's how it all began. I should also note that our first kiss was, unbeknownst to us, in a farmer's driveway. How romantic.

So I traveled back to the old CBC campus, I found somebody to take me for a tour of Brooks. The main floor is now private apartments, so I wasn't able to go in there, and Skitch is owned by a different group now so I couldn't go in there, but I went upstairs. It was different, but a who lot of the same. It was just neat to go back.

After my tour, I thanked my guide, and continued on my way. It's divided highway all the way home so it was peddle to medal, I was getting anxious to be home.

Now I'm home, the van is unpacked and most of my other stuff is put away. Just some clothes and odds and ends to clean up, but for the most part I'm re-settled. Over the next few day's I'm gonna put together a video of all my pics and musings so be sure to check back in for that

But until then it was good to have you along!

~ Until next time

The Mind Bender

2011-07-27T23:11:00.003-06:00

This is the Mind Bender!

It's the world's largest indoor triple loop roller coaster! It's totally rad! I've ridden it many times before so I knew that today when I had some time to kill in Edmonton I wanted to go for a spin on the Mind Bender. I ended up riding it twice because I met a young lad ... who coincidently was from Winnipeg ... who really wanted to ride the rollercoaster, but didn't have anyone to go with. He was also kinda nervous, cause the ride is pretty intense compared with Galaxyland's two other coasters. So I went and got more tickets to go with him. Unfortunately he was like 1cm too short and the ride operator was real anal so alas, he'll have to wait another year. But the important thing is he was willing ... getting on the train is half the battle.

What add's to the crazy factor of the coaster is that in 1986 3 people were killed when one of the trains left the track! I know they've crazy safetied the thing since but the though is always there ... this could be my last 1:13 of life! But it totally worth it! I did get a picture of myself on the coaster, but it hasn't arrived yet. I'll be sure to post it when I get it

The other cool thing that I did today was when to the Reynolds Museum of Transportation in Wetaskiwin. It's pretty neat, they have lots of old cars and tractors and a whole hanger of vintage aircraft. I did find one vehicle that I would totally get. It's a Chevrolet Greenbrier. It's one of the first min-vans! And I think it's the precursor to the station wagon.

check the wiki page

I also had a great visit with Eric and Carron, my Dad's brother and sister in law. And I am currently in Calgary at Jeff and Tilly's place. Tilly is my cousin on my mom's side. Jeff was fortunate enough to marry into the Miller clan! My cousin's Cheryl and Brent also came over tonight and we had a great visit. Unfortunately a couple of my other cousins (Julie and Lori) are off on holidays. I'll have to come back for a proper visit again sometime, but if I don't make it here the Farm is having the 100 anniversary party next summer so I'll hopefully see all of them there!

That's all for now! Only two more sleeps till I see Kathy and Eva again! Horray!

~ Until Next Time

Camp Sagitawa

2011-07-26T00:41:00.004-06:00

It's Monday night here at the farm and it's dark … I've decided that I don't like the dark anymore. After being in a land of perpetual day it's hard to get used to the dark again. The past couple night's I've woken up in the middle of the night and it's been pitch black and I didn't know where I was. Last night I was half dreaming and I thought I was trapped in a cave. It kinda freaked me out. It took me a minute to realize that I was safe, but I still need to turn on a light and go for a drink to get my heart to stop racing … it kinda sucked. I think tonight I'll leave the curtain open so some light will come in, maybe that will help. Anyways … what was I saying … oh yes, it's Monday and I'm at the farm … tomorrow I head out for the last leg of my journey. Edmonton, Calgary, Regina then home! Yippee!

I got into Dawson on Friday evening, the drive from Liard to here was good, from Ft. Nelson to here was tedious but I managed to make it with the help of CBC Radio 1, which, by the way, has really good programing in the evening … I'll have to tune in more often. I had a good chat with Aunt Brenda then it was off to bed because the next day I was heading to Camp Sagitawa.

Let me tell you about Camp Sagitawa … you can check out their Facebook page here

Camp Sagitawa is located on Moberly Lake which is about a one hour drive west of Dawson Creek.

Moberly Lake

I started going there when I was around 9. The reason I think my parents started sending me there was because it was close to my grandma's place and the farm so they could drop me off at camp and have a nice visit with grandma, plus it was only a 3 hour drive north of Prince George where I grew up. So at age 9 or so I went to camp for the first time, my councilor’s name was Steve. He was tall and had red hair … I think … also, here's the weird part, my friend Stirling was in my cabin that first summer and when I began to work at camp he was there and we didn't realize it till we were looking through old photo albums one day and saw our cabin picture! It was really weird! Stirling and I are good friends still. We were both grooms men in each other weddings and when ever I come out here I always end up hanging out with Stirling. Our relationship is great cause it seems like we always pick up where we left off. In fact that last time I saw Stirling was when I came out here before moving to Manitoba 4 years ago and it felt like I never left.

So I was a camper since I was 9, and when I was old enough my parents would put me on the Greyhound Bus and somebody from the camp would come pick me up. I only missed my bus going home once cause I wrote down the wrong time. I though that was the greatest thing in the world cause that meant I was able to stay at camp for another night, also it meant I was able to hang out with all the cabin leaders and SEEDS (I'll explain about SEEDS in a minute) for the evening which was AWESOME cause I though they were the coolest people in the world!!

At age 16 I became a SEED. SEED stand for Servants Encouraged Equipped and Discipled. The program is sort of like a Jr. Councilor except the SEEDS don't sleep in a cabin with the campers. The job of a SEED is to free the cabin leaders up so they can have more opportunity to share Jesus with the campers. So we would do chore like things (dishes, cleaning ect.) but we would also play with the campers and help teach a skill (I always taught canoeing and wall climbing) and we would also be part of a table group.

I was a seed for 2 years. Some of my deepest friendships I have today formed those first few summers a camp. After being a SEED I was a cabin leader for 2 years (you can't call them councilor's anymore cause we aren't trained therapist’s … that's the explanation anyways. Now it's cabin leaders …)

Here's a bit of Ken Trivia … at camp the campers are divided into table groups. That way the kids can meet new people and what not. Table groups were a lot of fun! Some times we would have wacky meals like giant/weird utensil meal or monk meals where you could talk. Also I invented Communist Wang-Ho. Ask me about it some time!

Anyways back to Ken trivia … also table groups are in a sort of competition. There were memory verses and different contests through out the week and the winning table group would get served at the end of the week by the program directors. It's called Top Table. So the Top Table would have a fancy table cloth and napkins, bigger glasses and extra juice! I NEVER WON top table … not once! I was part of a table group for 4 years and I NEVER WON! I had 32 chances to win and I never won … hehe … I came second one year by like 2 points, that was the closest that I ever came … but I'm not bitter :D I was also never on the brochure …

My favorite camps were always teen camps. My first summer as a cabin leader I had the oldest kids. There were 4 in my cabin. I had a blast with these 4 guys! One time, one of the other cabin's kept throwing pebbles on the tin roof. I was annoying so one of the guys piped up and said, “If they do that again can we go beat them?” I replied, “Well, you can't use your fist's, you can use your pillows, and if I was “sleeping” and didn't know you left there's nothing I could do about it right *wink* *wink* ...” Sure enough about 10 minutes later they threw rocks on out roof, conveniently enough I was “sleeping” and all I heard from next door were screams and the pounding of pillows! The cabin leader of that cabin the next morning complained to me that my guys had raided them, but to this day I maintain my innocence! I was “sleeping” … oddly enough they never threw rocks on our roof again! Hehe …

I was usually in Cabin 10. My friend Tim

was usually 2 cabins over. We would always have a Coke together before camp

started.

After that I was the SEED leader, and I've also been the camp speaker there a couple times. But as much fun as working there was, Sagitawa has also left a lasting spiritual impact on my life. It's the place were I fully began to understand Jesus love for me. It's the place where I have been able to witness the greatness and majesty of God and it's also the place where I finally began grieving the loss of my mom.

Here's a couple stories to illustrate

As a cabin leader the first night I would share a little about my life, how I became a Christian and what not. I was also also ask the campers what they though about God. I had one camper who straight up told me he was an atheist. He didn't believe in God and there was no way I would get him to believe. I was alright with that, at least I knew where he stood. So the week progressed, we did our bible studies, went to chapel's, did our things. I chatted with him a little ever day, asked him how things were and what not. The last night, when the director typically gives the salvation message I could tell that God was speaking to him. After chapel he pulled me aside. He had tears in his eyes and told me about his life and how much he didn't like the way it was going, and that he though he might give Jesus a try. Praise God! That was probably the best moment I had as a cabin leader. I can't remember his name or even where he's from but I pray that he's still giving Jesus a try.

Another time I heard God speak to me. It was early, around 6:30am. I liked to get up early to shower have some coffee and read my bible before my cabin got up. I was walking across the big playing field to the main dining hall where the showers were. I looked up and the field was covered in dew, the sun was shining on it and it looked like a million diamonds. I also glanced at the lake at it was glass, not a ripple on it. Which is odd cause Moberly is usually quite windy. In that moment it seemed like all time stopped. In that moment I heard God say, “Look what I created just for you Ken” It was glorious! I can still picture it in my head and it still takes my breath away thinking about it.

I also mentioned that at camp I began the grieving process. In April of 2001 my mom passed away. That summer I went back to camp. That wasn't a very good summer. About half way through the summer I had a unusually difficult cabin, and an unusually difficult table group. It seemed like the kids were more interested in goofing off instead of learning about God. Which sucked for me. I loved teaching the kids about Jesus and it seemed like they didn't care. So one day I climbed a tree. I climbed a tree and wouldn't come down. I had anxious people at the bottom telling me to come down. But I needed somebody to come to me. I can't remember who it was, but somebody decided to climb the tree. He didn't talk, he just sat with me as I cried. My soul hurt. Eventually I came down, but that moment I began to fully realize that my mom was gone and it hurt. That tree isn't there anymore, but I made that tree legendary. Many more would climb the “crisis tree” as it was called. So if you see somebody in a tree that won't come down maybe you should climb to them, cause some times we all need somebody to come sit with us as we cry, and that's alright.

So camp has had a HUGE impact on my life. The current director Gary and his wife Audry are like a second set of parents to me, I feel. I have had many long chats with Gary, in fact just yesterday I had another long chat with Gary, he shared with me his passion for camp, and for Jesus and I left the table feeling so totally blessed and encouraged. I don't have words enough to express what Camp Sagitawa means to me. But it feels like the place reverberates with my soul so everything is at peace. As much as the farm feels like home, camp feels like my sanctuary. It's a place where God dwells and I always meet him there, and this time was no exception.

I was lucky this time because this weekend was the Alliance Church in Dawson Creek's family camp. So Stirling and his family were there and a few others that I knew where also there so it was nice to spend the weekend with them. The water was cold, much colder than the Arctic Ocean, so I didn't go swimming. But I went on the zip line a few times, climbed the big hill across the highway and had a nice time around the fire with everybody. I also got to sleep in Gordon and Brenda's sweat RV! They have a super nice motor home and it sure beat sleeping in the van!

The view from the top of the hill

As I mentioned in a previous post when I come out here I usually mow the grass. I did that today and I didn't mow over any trees! There was one instance however where I was trundling along with out the blades going! Oops! Gordon walks over to me and asks me to look behind me. I thought I ran over something! But he casually mentioned that there were no clippings coming from the mower! Hehe … It's a good thing I'm not a farmer cause I would make a terrible one! Oh well … perhaps next time I'll be able to get it right :D

~ Until next time …

Playlist for a Man-Venture

2011-07-23T00:01:00.002-06:00

So I've traveled a few thousand kilometers so far. When I get home in a few day's I think I'll be over 9000. That's a lot of road to travel! And one of the things that has kept me entertained is my iPod.

Anyone who know me, knows that I have just about every kinds of music on my iPod. Heavy Metal, rock n' roll, indy, screemo, hip hop, dupstep, house, etc. The only genre not represented is country, but in my mind “country music” is an oxymoron. I apologize if I offended anyone but this is my blog and my iPod. So you can have have whatever opinion you like about my musical tastes as long as it's my opinion! Hehe! :D

So in that spirit, here the list of some of the favorite tunes that have got me down the long stretches of highway where you swear you are going in circles cause all the trees look the same … in no particular order. If you click the links it'll take you to the iTunes or YouTube.

1. From Yesterday by 30 Seconds to Mars

2. Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day

3. I wish You were Here by Incubus

The title sums it up. As much as I've enjoyed the solo journey to the top of the world. Adventureing is best done with a friend.

4. Thunderstruck by ACDC

Here's some Ken trivia: when ever I do a long run, or run a race (ie. 10km or half marathon) I always listen to this when I start. But it has to be from the Live album. At the beginning of the song on the live album you hear the crowd cheering, it totally pumps me up!

5. Knocking on Heaven's Door by Guns and Roses

The previous two songs are great ones to crank and sing out at the top of your lungs! And because it's only me, there's no one to criticize my singing! hehe

6. Evangeline by The Handsome Furs

The Handsome Furs are a Canadian husband and wife duo from Montreal. The Handsome Furs are good for every occasion. They're kinda like grilled cheese sandwiches. If you don't know what to have to eat, a grilled cheese sandwich is always the right option. I feel the same way about this band. If I don't know what to listen to The Handsome Furs are always the right option.

7. Old School by Headley

When I'm feeling sentimental. Yellow Brick Road by Raine Maida is also another good sentimental song. In case you didn't know Raine Maida is best known as the lead singer of Our Lady Peace. He's also Canadian.

8. Fix You by Coldplay

I found a re-mix by dubstep artist Datsik. It's kinda neat. I love the original of the song. It's a good one, when I'm feeling mellow.

9. Young Forever [ft. Mr. Husdon] by Jay-Z

For some reason I really like Jay-Z. He's the guilty pleasure that I have on my iPod ... and before you judge me, I know all you have a guilty iPod pleasure. I really like the idea of this song about living in the moment, taking it all in. Not feeling the need to grow up. I like the lyric "Life is for living, not living uptight"

10. Beautiful Day by U2

I think this is one of my all time favorite songs. It's best played in the morning.

11. Chevette by Audio Adrenaline

I would re-write the chorus so it sang, “in my mini-van!”

12. Uprising by Muse

Cause I like to stick it to the “man”

13. Pressing On by Reliant K

14. Oh Bravo by Children 18:3

15. Alive by P.O.D

This song is what I'm feeling right now. The has been an amazing trip! Ya, I've been lonely, and the road has been long, but I've seen some of the most amazing things in the world. Literally! I've climbed a mountain and swam in the Arctic Ocean. I've met some amazing people, like Irene Kendo, and I've been immersed in some great history. If I could go back in time I would make the same decision to go on this trip all over again!

And probably the most iconic one to finish off the list … On the Road Again by Willy Nelson. I play this song every morning when I start out, it just fits. I know I said I didn't like country but for this song I'll make an exception.

~ Until Next Time

The Journey

2011-07-22T23:52:00.005-06:00

I'm at Liard Hotsprings, I just got back from the pools … it felt good after driving all day. The drive from Whitehorse today was long, at least it felt long. So it's nice to be here, waiting for my KD to cook.

The journey of the past two days hasn't been very remarkable. I left Dawson City, I didn't see the two backpackers when I left town, they said they were gonna try to get to Fairbanks first thing in the morning, so hopefully they got a ride. I still wanted to pick up a hitch hiker, so I was on the look out, and at the turn off to the Dempster I found one. Sam.

Sam was on his way to Vancouver Island. He had just found out that his dad had been diagnosed with leukemia so he was on his way home for a few days. Sam works at the lodge at mile 0 of the Dempster, this was his second summer up there. He met a girl at the University in Nanimo and followed her up here. I didn't ask if they're still together, and he didn't tell. It seemed like to personal a question for a single serving friend. Sam is a singer/songwriter and an author. So if you see a novel by Sam from Vancouver Island, who now lives and works in the north that's him. And let it be know that I met him first! Sam was lucky, I was the first car that passed by, he'd been out on the highway for about 5 minutes. He told me he expected that he would have to wait for at least 20 cars to drive by before somebody picked him up.

So I picked Sam up, and we chatted for a bit, but mostly he slept and I drove. An ideal hitchhiker! He didn't talk my ear off and he didn't try to rob me … bonus! He even paid me! I always assumed that people hitchhiked because it was free! I guess times have changed!

I dropped Sam off in Whitehorse and spent the night at Andrea's (Kathy's cousin) and this morning I left, now I'm here … my KD is finished and it's yummy … I saw a couple bears today, and had a conversation with a Buffalo along the side of the road … he wasn't much of a talker :) And I also stopped at this look out. When Kathy and I did our trip to Alaska we stopped here and took our picture. We look so young back then!

Kathy and I our random trip to Alaska 7 years ago.

I think this is the same spot. It's grown over a bit since I was there last

Like I said, not a very remarkable two days. I am glad that I didn't spend the night in Watson Lake. It was raining when I got there and the forecast for tonight was also for rain. Here the sun is shining and it's looking like it's gonna be a nice night.

I don't really have anything super deep to say at the moment, I'm just really diggin' the KD I made! So I'm gonna stop writing now and eat up while it's still hot!

Yummy KD

~ Until next time

ps. yes that's right I'm eating it right from the pot! Boo-ya me!

Driving the Dempster Part II

2011-07-19T18:13:00.004-06:00

What's got two thumbs and drove the Dempster Highway to Inuvik and back? THIS GUY!

I got that sticker in Inuvik it says,

"We drove the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, NWT, and back"

I have officially completed driving the Dempster Highway! It's a neat feeling to have accomplished something not very many people have attempted to do, and even more so cause I did the trek solo. I chatted with a guy in Eagle Plains two nights ago, and he said the Dempster is a solo kinda highway. I would agree, but at the same time I think it's a good one to do with a partner. I can't wait to take Kathy and the brood up the road so they can experience all the Arctic has to offer. But now it's time to go home. I'm happy to be that much closer.

I am currently in Dawson City … at the Library to be exact … in case you saw my previous Facebook post, I have decided to camp for the night. I weighed the options but in the end the cheapest hotel that I could find was $129 and the campground is only $12. The library is free and I found a nice campsite right along the river, across from the public shelter. So I figured I can cook there if it rains and I can hang out here at the library until 6:30pm … not a bad option.

So yesterday I traveled from Eagle Plains to Tombstone. It took several hours longer than I expected for two reasons. The first was I got 100km down the road and I got flagged over by a couple guys who's truck had broken down. They were wondering if I could give them a ride back to Eagle Plains. I said sure … if I were in there position I would want the same … I drove them back and they even paid me $200 for my time! I paid $42 in gas and $20 for lunch so I made $132! Not a bad profit for two hours of my time. My next stop was at Windy Pass, where on the way up I saw a hill I wanted to climb … well the hill turned into a mountain. I made it to the very top! It was my personal Everest! Then I noticed that the peak connected to another peak so I hiked that and then back down. The hike took me about 2.5 hours to complete. It wasn't a bad climb, it was really windy at the top … oddly enough! It's at km 152 of the Dempster, so if you ever go that's a good place to stop for a hike.

Me at the top of my mountain!

Me and my mountain in the background

I made it to tombstone, where I reconnected with Mary, and I arrived just in time to have super. She had been fishing earlier, and offered me some of her catch! It was yummy! I chatted with her and some German travelers for a bit before heading to my campsite for the night. It was a kind of a soggy night, it started raining around 10pm and rained for most of the night, it was sorta drizzling when I got up so I didn't linger to long. Just long enough to make coffee and oatmeal. I ended up full and warm for the rest of the trip down the road.

Today I also took a tour of Dredge #4. The Dredges were used at the end of the Gold Rush. This particular Dredge was used until the late 50's! At the time it was the largest on in the world! Click here for a pic. Click here for a description. The tour was really interesting and the short film at the end was neat. They have footage of the the Dredge in action. After that I was cold and hungry so I went back to Sourdough Joe's for a bowl of chowder and a plate of poutine. Warm and full I left Joe's and headed to the campground. I parked the van then took the short walk back to the ferry so I could come back to the library. On the way I met two guys who are trying to get to Alaska, I offered to take them to Whitehorse if they wanted to go that way instead of through Chicken. If they show up when I'm ready to leave tomorrow I would welcome the company for the drive to Whitehorse. I've wanted to pick up some hitch hikers along the way, but I just haven't met any till now. I'll let you know how that works out.

But for now I'm gonna hang here, I think in I bit I might go find some coffee then head back across the river for the evening. Hopefully it's not raining so I can build a fire and enjoy the evening reading my book.

~ Until next time

Homeward Bound

2011-07-17T20:46:00.003-06:00

Did you ever see the movie Homeward Bound? It's about a cat and two dogs that are left by their families at a farm, but they decide country living isn't for them and decide to head home. This has nothing to do with that really except that I, like those cuddly animals, am on my way home.

It's bitter-sweet. Bitter because I really like it up here, the country and the people are unlike any that I've ever encountered. The past day and half have been good. I went to the Great Northern Art Festival. Apparently the opening ceremonies (which were on Friday evening) are good, I wouldn't know cause their headline performance canceled for what ever reason. They had a single dancer/drummer/singer which was kind of cool, but I was looking forward to the main dancing and drumming team. Oh well, I'll have to time my next visit with the beginning of the festival. They also had an art gallery (all hand made) to took at. Everything there was really good and INCREDIBLY over priced. Like $75 for a scarf and $50 for a set of mittens over priced. Some of the carvings and paintings were well over the 300 mark.

I also finally made it to the Igloo Church. It was really interesting. When it was originally built they built it with no blueprints! A couple years after it was completed the government wanted so see blueprints so they had to hire an architect to draw some up after the fact. The church was also designed with symbolism built into it. There are 3 exits signifying the trinity, 12 major arches for the 12 apostles, and 24 minor arches for the 24 elders in Revelation 4. And there are also 72 rings around the dome for the 72 who went out to preach. Also the church was built without pilings. They made a sort of floating base that allows the warm air out keeping the permafrost cold. In over 50 years the church hasn't moved an inch. When it was build the builders were the laughing stock of the north, but since then they have been vindicated and engineers from all over the world have come to study it's construction. The Sister who was giving the tour was really interesting. It's a must see if you ever make it to Inuvik.

Leaving here is sweet, because I'm that much closer to home. It feels like a long time since I left, really it has, but 17 day's in the grand scheme of things isn't that long. I've adjusted my plans a bit which actually get's me home a day sooner.

I decided to drive from Inuvik to Eagle Plains in one shot, it was a nice drive. Just as good as on the way there. The weather was nice though so I was able to stop a couple different places.

My first stop of the day was the little village on the McKenzie River. The village of Tsiigehtchic is only accessible by ferry, it's a quaint little place, that was completely deserted today. The only sole in sight was Irene Kendo. Irene is an aged native woman, she walks slowly with a bit of a hunch, but her eyes convey years of experience and wisdom. Irene has lived in Tsiigehtchic for over 40 years, and in fact on June 24th, she'll be celebrating her 44th anniversary! She was a school teacher for years, and had taken it upon her self to teach the younger generation the traditional Gwich'in language. In fact her granddaughter just preformed at a recent music festival and sang a song that she'd written in Gwich'in. She had a big smile on her face as she told me this, it was obvious that what a great moment of personal pride for her. She also told me about the rivers, the McKenzie and the Arctic Red that she has called home for over 4 decades, how she has fished them and has made her lively hood off them. She also told me how her people take great pride in the rivers and work to keep them clean. I did more listening than talking, and that's ok. I would have stayed longer but I had get going. Chatting with Irene Kendo was the highlight of my day. So I bid her farewell, wished her a happy anniversary and continued on my way.

Irene Kendo

The McKenzier River as seen from Tsiigehtchic

The Dempster in reverse offers as unique a view as going north. I wanted to climb a hill today, but unfortunately when I got to the hill it was covered by a cloud. I walked up it a bit, maybe 400fee, but when I turned around I could hardly see the van so I decided to turn back. That's ok, there is another one that I will climb tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'll head to Tombstone campground, where I'll hopefully see Mary to tell her all about my adventures, then it's on to Dawson City. Unfortunately the 5th Ave B&B didn't have any room for me so I think I'll camp at the campground across the river. The big change in my plan is that I am now going through Calgary and Regina on my way home. I'm looking forward to seeing my cousins and other friends. I'll be sure to keep you all posted.

~ Until next time

It's 1:15am

2011-07-16T01:18:00.003-06:00

It's 1:15am, I just got back from filming the midnight sun on the banks of the McKenzie River. It's really beautiful at this time of day. It's so still, calm, quiet. I also emptied the water bottle that I had brought from home. That water bottle was part of what brought me though my long dark night. I had never been home sick before that night. That night I wanted to quit, then I though about my water bottle. I needed to go on so I could dump my water bottle in the Arctic Ocean. In my hast yesterday I forgot it, I decided that I would do the next best thing. The McKenzie River leads to the Arctic Ocean.

I've accomplished my task. Completed my journey. Tomorrow is my last day in the Arctic. It's time to go home ...

~ Until next time

Tuktoyaktuk

2011-07-15T12:19:00.004-06:00

Tuktoyaktuk. There are no words to really describe a town that's on the edge of the world.

I had originally planned on going to Tuk today, July 15th, so I was just hanging out at here before super, reading my book, contemplating on where I wanted to go to eat, not really thinking about much when I hear my name called from downstairs.

“Ken! You around?!”

“Ya ...”

“You wanna go to Tuk now?”

“Like right now?!”

“Ya, I got a couple that wants to go, and we can go right now!”

“Ya sure! I'll grab my stuff!”

So in a frenzied panic I tossed things around my room, gathered my essentials and rushed out the door! The time is took you to read this, was probably how long I had to head out! It's was kinda crazy. In the panic I forgot to bring my water bottle that I was going to dump into the sea, and I forgot my binoculars. The later I wasn't so much concerned about, the former was kind of a bummer cause I had carried the water all the way from home.

But then it hit me … “I'm 3000 feet in the air, flying over the Arctic on the way to Tuk … HOLY CRAP! I'm actually on the way to Tuk!”

It didn't really register until then that I was completing the final leg of my journey north till about 20 minutes into the 45 minute flight there. After fully realizing exactly where I was and where I was going to I actually chuckled out loud … it's probably a good thing that I was riding shotgun and the pilot was busy concentrating on what he was doing cause the couple behind me would have thought me crazier that I already was! Even as I write this it seems crazy. Like seriously, who goes to Tuktoyaktuk? Nobody! But the moment I hit the ground I was in love. Then the mosquito's came, and for a brief instant I fell out of love, then I got into the van and began to look around fell back in love … it was like high school romance!

Our guide's name was Eileen. She was born and raised in Tuk. From what I gathered she and her husband live out in the wilderness somewhere 9 months out of the year hunting, fishing and trapping. Living totally independent. To me that seems crazy! Eileen met us at the airport, we had to sign a waiver to go into the ice house, which I'll talk about later, and then we were off. Out first stop was the “Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk” sign, where she took my picture, she handed me back my camera and said, “There, your immortal! Now you can prove you were here!” So fitting! I feel like the Highlander! Only I don't have a cool sword …

Side note: If you don't know what the Highlander is IMDB it … I used to watch the show nearly ever day at lunch when I first lived in Drayton Valley …

Now back to our regular scheduled blog …

We journeyed from the welcome sign through town. She pointed out that each house has 2 satellite dishes on it. One for TV and one for wireless internet! And, if you are Bell mobile customer, you can get cell coverage! Yes, I'm I nerd … you know that, but those kinds of things I find cool!

Next we went to the top of the big pingo in town. Pingo's are formed when water seeps into the frozen permafrost. It's usually when a small lake dries up. When the ground re-freezes the water is pushed back up to the surface, but since the surface is frozen it pushes the frozen ground up with it. For a better explanation check the Wikipedia page on it. Also the page on hydrostatic pressure. In a nut shell Pingo's are small hills rising above the permafrost, but they can get quite big. Tuk has the second biggest pingo's in the world. Second to those found in Russia. Standing on top of the pingo you can see the whole town.

Pingo's from the air

Tuk has two main resources, natural gas and beluga whales. Imperial Oil and Esso both had big facilities there, Esso left a couple years ago and Imperial Oil is in the process of moving out. In an age where most of what you hear about big oil companies is their harm on the environment, Eileen had nothing bad to say about them. They have done a lot of good things for the community. They built them a new water treatment system and laid about 20km of pipe to a huge freshwater lake that every summer fills their reservoir. Each house has a 300 gallon tank that get's filled about 2 times a week, depending on how many people live in each house. The oil companies built the town a baseball field and a rec center. And when the companies move out, the leave next to no trace that they were ever there.

Also, a few years ago the Molson Brewing company hosted what was dubbed “The Molson Ice Polar Beach Party”, it featured Hole, Metallica, Moist, Cake and Veruca Salt. Eileen chuckled, “ya, after that all the kids where really into Metallica!” I found that hilarious as well. The money raised from that concert built the town a youth drop zone, and the kids collect cans and bottles to raise money for various things connected to that.

Eileen also gave us a detailed description of how they process the beluga whales they catch. “Muktuk” they call is prepared several different ways, but the end is that one whale can feed a family for a whole year. Despite what green peace and others say, the people there don't kill more than they need, and they use every bit of the whale. What they don't use they haul out to sea and sink. It was really quite neat. If I had the chance I would try it, but I don't think I would make a regular part of my diet!

From the pingo, we went to the sod house. This particular sod house was built in the 60's cause the old one melted and fell down. Eileen said the Queen came to see this particular one. Her, Prince Philip, and Prince Charles came up there to see the mid-night sun, but Eileen recalls that it was cloudy that day! :)

One of the coolest things we did was went down into their community freezer. It's basically a hole in the ground. After descending 26 steps straight down you come to a larger open area with several side tunnels. From down there you get a great view of what permafrost is. It's layers of sand and ice, which is why when permafrost melts it turns to mud! It was cold down there, and I'm glad I brought my winter fleece along with me, not only did it keep the mosquito's off, it also prevented me from freezing! Eileen said that it was warmer down there than outside in February. Not many people use the freezer anymore cause most have a freezers in their homes, but there were a few fish and other things down there. It was an eerie experience. Without a head lamp it would have been pitch black, and I had to stoop down to walk around. If you claustrophobic, get over your fear before going to Tuk cause this is an essential stop … of use this as an excuse to conquer your fear!

Eileen decending into the permafrost

As were were driving around Eileen pointed out other various things, smoke houses, they have 4 churches, Anglican, Catholic, Pentecostal and Baptist. For a town of about 400 that's quite a lot! She also showed us the old Residential School ship that was used to abduct kids from their families. Imperial Oil placed it where it is today, and it's kind of a monument. Eileen, herself was a child of the Residential School System. Whether she harbors any bitterness from that it didn't show.

Our last stop was the ocean, where I took the plunge. I decided, “why not! I've come this far north, I'm going for a swim!” The water wasn't as cold as I though it was. Moberly Lake has been colder … The Swiss couple that I was with though I was insane! The girl, says to me, “You sure you wanna do this?” “YEP!” I reply, she just shook here head! She even took a picture of me and my “gorgeous figure” :p coming out of the water! I saw a couple others watching, perhaps they though I was a beluga whale that had washed up on shore … hehe … It was an experience that I'll never forget!

We lingered on the beach for a bit, and some kids tried to sell me some carvings they “claimed” the made them selves … highly unlikely … then it was off to the airport for our flight back to Inuvik.

Going there and coming back we had a great view of the McKenzie River Delta, and all it's little off shoots … from the air it looked like a ski hill if you can picture that … and we did a fly over of Inuvik.

All in all it was a fantastic adventure that I would recommend that everybody take. I would love to go back on my own and just wander around town chatting with people and taking pictures of all the old buildings and such. We had perfect sunny day with a nice wind to keep the bugs away.

I have two more days in Inuvik before I begin the trek home, today I'm going to the cultural festival and I would like to go to the Igloo church and green houses … btw Tuk just opened their own green house, which makes the most northern one in Canada.

Now I can say that I've driven as far north as you can possible drive in the summer and I've swam in the Arctic Ocean! Not many can lay claim to that, and I'll be back once they open the all weather road to Tuk. Then I can say I've done both … on the same day!

~ Until next time

It's Interesting to Note ...

2011-07-14T14:41:00.004-06:00

Today is my first full day in Inuvik. Here are some interesting things to note so far …

It's interesting to note that the “u” in Inuvik is pronounced “new”. In-new-vik …

It's interesting to note that the weather here isn't much cooler than at home … today my van read +23 (that 73F if anyone from the US is reading this).

It's interesting note that some of the newer buildings here are built with Geo-thermal cooling systems to keep the ground solid during the summer. Normally any building would have to be built on pilings so that during the summer when the permafrost warms up they don't sink into the ground. These systems super cool/freeze the ground underneath a building during the winter so when it warms up there isn't a problem. Also during the summer this same system will refrigerate the ground to keep it cool.

The pipes on the side of the building are for geo-thermal cooling

It's interesting to note that the first native man to get his pilots license was from Inuvik, and this is his plane. It's also interesting to note that the man who run's this place, Oleoff flew this plane and help restore it. It's even more interesting to note that Oleoff look like Sean Connery and sometimes sounds a little like him!

It's interesting to note that many of the buildings were originally painted like this. This was to help improve mental health during the long dark winters, and apparently it worked! Kathy maybe you should do a study on that …

It's interesting to note that may of the people working here, native and none-native make a lot of money! Oleoff was saying that people here think they would be getting paid what oil execs get paid, and may do! Which is why people can afford 4.98/kg for bananas and drive $60,000 trucks. It's also interesting to note, and a little sad, that for those who don't make that they can still make around $12/hour for sitting at home on welfare.

It's interesting to note that nothing here gets really old. For example, they are building a new school. The old elementary and high schools are still in good shape, but the town wanted a new one. So when the new school is built the two old ones will be torn down instead of renovating and/or re-purposing them. Ironically you can't buy plastic bags here because there is such a big push for recycling. If you do need bags, for groceries they cost $0.25.

It's interesting to note that most of the home are connected with this “utili-door” This conduit holds water, gas, and sewer.

It's interesting to note that you can go golfing here. It's called “End of the Road Golf”. Perhaps I'll see how much a round of golf is. It's also interesting to note that this is not the most northern golf course.

It's interesting to note that some guys bought this boat for a dollar but don't the the money to do anything with it, so they parked it here .

Finally, it's interesting to note that the ice road is closed :p

~ Until next time

I Made It!

2011-07-13T19:21:00.004-06:00

690 songs and 4890.6 km later I made it! I finally made it to Inuvik. I stopped in at the visitors center and received my certificate for crossing the Arctic Circle, and wandered around town for a bit. I washed my van, it was seriously muddy and went for a bite to eat. I'm staying a this place called the Arctic Chalet. It's a psudeo-B&B. I say psudeo because they don't actually make breakfast for you, they call it “self catered”, which is a nice way of saying “get your own dang breakfast!” They do have stuff to make pancakes, toast and coffee, as well as other things to eat for lunch and what not, so in a sense they provide a little more than a traditional B&B. My room is nice, and I have a private balcony so that's rad!

At the bottom is says, "The Order of Arctic Adventurers bears witness that Ken Peters, having demonstrated the initiative, intergiry and bold adventurous spirit of the true Arctic explorers who have crossed the Arctic Circle, will hereafter be recognized as an honorable member of the exclusive Arctic Circle Chapter, Order of Arctic Adventures." I think that's pretty cool!

My trip from Eagle Plains was pretty uneventful, I left in the morning and drove to Ft. McPherson, NWT. Along the way I drove across the Arctic Circle, so I'm officially in the north!

Mr. Monster like hanging around at the Arctic Circle :)

My first impressions of the NWT wasn't that good. It started to rain as I was taking my pic at the "Welcome to the NWT sign” and it rained off and on for the rest of the day and evening. The camp ground that I stayed at was so-so. It was quiet, and I was able to get some firewood to keep the bugs away while I heated up super. But all was redemed when I started to interact with some of the local people. The gentleman at the visitors center, was this older native man. He was a delight to talk to, I don't think that very many people stop at that campground. The drive from Eagle Plains to Inuvik can easily be done in one day, which btw I'm gonna do on my way home. The people in Ft. McPhearson were also really friendly, they greated me with a smile and made small talk. My big purchase yesterday was a real ax! It's the best $40 I've spend this whole time! It totally made chopping wood last night WAY WAY WAY easier!!

The biggest drawback of me ever coming back here again is the mosquitos! I stopped at this look-out point today, this was the sign there said,

Did Someone say Mosquito? Water that melts on top of the permafrost collects into pools. It is these same conditions that are perfect to breeding mosquito's the mosquito population here is a close second to that found in the Amazon. Fortunately, the mosquitos in the North do not carry diseases, such as malaria. A sudy revealed that mosquito's can take as much as 125cc (half a cup) of blood daily from an adult caribou!

So the moral of the story is that if you don't like mosquito's … don't go to the Amazon! He!he!he!. But they really are insane. This morning I was ambushed by the nasty little bugs the moment I got out of my van, and it took a few minutes to kill all the ones that got in when I closed the door to go. They were sooooo bad that I didn't even make breakfast. I lit my mosquito coils so I could boil water for coffee then I was off. So I had coffee, a couple granola bars and some Sun Chips (harvest cheddar … yummy!) for breakfast. The worst things is they land on the tip of your nose and fly into your eyes! I think they coordinated attacks, using distraction so others can bite your hands, arms and neck!

Between Eagle Plains and here I took two ferries. The first was a cable ferry, which was weird cause it didn't feel like you were moving … but it did at the same time, hard to explain but weird none the less. The second was a powered ferry, cause it had to make a stop in between. The rivers that I crossed were the Peel and McKenzie/Arctic Red. The latter is where the Arctic Red flows into the McKenzie. On the way back I'm gonna stop at the little village, the ferry makes a stop on the way to the other side, why they don't just make a road that connects it was the Dempster is beyond me, but the ferry is the only link to their Dempster.

The road conditions from Eagle Plains weren't the greatest either. Because it was raining it was also muddy and slippery, more so today than yesterday. My van was crazy muddy, but I was able to find a car wash today and hose most of the mud off. But it wasn't any more muddy or slippery than at home on the gravel roads, the redeeming factor is that there is less traffic so I was able drive right down the middle of the road.

Before!

After!

I still have mud in my tires I'll need to take care of before I leave, but at least I can get in without getting my pants muddy!

I took my picture at the welcome to Inuvik sign as you say at the beginning of this post. It also signaled the end of the Dempster. I just want to give a big shout out the bus load of cheaters who pulled up as I was leaving the sign. You can fly here and a guide will take your around and show you the sites, which includes the welcome to Inuvik sign. If you want to come up here you should drive. It's part of the experience. I talked with a guy in a local shop (I bought a “I drove the Dempster” sticker from there) who said he gets people in all the time asking what's its like. If you fly up you miss the a unique piece of Canada that you can't see anywhere else. There is nothing like Tombstone Mountain Park, or the cool little canyon that I drove through yesterday or the miles and miles of little lakes dotting the country side. Even the muddy roads are a bit different here than at home. Driving here gives me a sense of accomplishment. I did it! All by myself! I dove as far north as possible in the summer … I'll have to come back in the winter so I can drive the ice roads … Those people probably will hop back on their plane tonight and head back to Dawson City where they'll get in their rented RV and head to Alaska. Alaska is cool, but the Yukon and NWT are way better in my opinion.

And now a word from our sponsors … I mentioned prices in an earlier post, but I wanted to find out a bit further what things cost up here. So I went the grocery store in Ft. McPhearson and here to see what common things cost.

Gas – Eagle Plains and Ft. McPherson 1.69/L

Gas – Inuvik 1.65/L

Co-Op in Ft. McPherson

Bananas: $4.39/kg
Delissio Frozen Pizza $16.99
2gb SD card – 22.99
Ax (not the one I bought) $65.99 (mine was $39.99, not sure why the price difference)

Big Way Foods in Inuvik

Bananas – $4.89/kg
Bell Peppers – 10.99/kg
Tomatoes – $8.29/kg
4L of 2% milk - $11.79
Boneless skinless Lilydale chicken breasts - $1.41/kg. The pasckage I looked as was 27.95 (the crazy thing is that a Crispy Chicken meal, 4 strips of chicken, fries and a drink is $9.59
60 pack of Huggies diapers - $24.85
46 pack of Pampers Cruisers (like I buy for Eva) - $29.29
8gb iPod touch $319.29 (compared to $229 from Apple.com)
Sony Bravia 40” LCD TV - $1349.99 (compared to $796 on Bestbuy.com
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hard cover - $43.00 (compared to 15.03 from Amazon.com)
36 case of Pepsi - $31.99

In other words, things here are expensive! I'm not sure how people can afford to live here, minimum wage is only $10/hour, I'm not sure what the wages for career like jobs are like but it's crazy that the processed crappy foods are way cheaper than the fresh stuff. I understand why, cause everything needs to be either flown in or shipped via transport truck. But it's still astounding.

I only have one more thing to accomplish before I head home. I have a container of water that I want to dump into the arctic ocean, and to do that I've to get to Tuktoyaktuk. Hopefully I'll be able to go tomorrow, if not tomorrow there is a trip on Sunday that I can go with. I'd rather go tomorrow cause the one on Sunday goes at 2pm and I want to drive to Eagle Plains that day. It's only 6 hours from Inuvik to Eagle plains so that's not too bad, and it's not like it ever gets dark, but it will make for a long day. I also lucked out and there will be a big cultural festival starting on Friday, so I'm gonna go check that out.

That's all for now. I'll be sure to blog all about my experiences in Tuk and Inuvik in the next couple days

~ Until Next Time

Driving The Dempster Part 1

2011-07-11T22:11:00.006-06:00

So my adventures began yesterday, July 10. I left Dawson City in the morning after breakfast and made the short trip to the Klondike River Lodge, which is the last gas station in 370 km. So the moral of the story is: if you don't fill up here you'd better like walking! I topped up my tank, a whole $6, and crossed the river. About 10 minutes later I said good-by to the pavement and hit the gravel. The road is very well maintained, it has to be because it's the only link that Eagle Plains and Inuvik have to any sort of civilization. Sure they could have all their goods flown in but that would probably triple the price of everything. I'll let you know what the prices are like in Tuk when I get there.

At first the scenery is fairly typical of the surroundings, trees, trees and more trees. But then things begin to open up once you enter Tombstone Territorial Park. There is only one word to describe the park … WOW! The mountains in the park make the Alberta Rockies look lame! There are spectacular mountains surrounded by sweeping valleys. I stopped by the interpretive center when I arrived at the the campground and met Mary. Mary is a Tombstone volunteer who is staying in the park for a couple weeks. Shortly after I met her, she stopped by campsite and invited me on a guided hike. So I hitched up my socks and laced up my boots and headed into the tundra.

Myself, Mary, 2 guys from Austria and a couple from Switzerland hiked through the tundra, which by the way is a lot more difficult that it sounds. The ground is really spongy, like walking through foam mattress's, wet foam mattress's. We hiked back into a valley about 3km. We went to place called Foxy Creek, it's a little creek/river that runs through the valley. There is one spot where there's a patch of ice, that according to Mary never melts. It was kinda need to scoop up some snow in the middle of July. On that patch of snow we found a Caribou antler buried in the snow. We grabbed some rocks and dug it out. It was a perfectly preserved left antler. We took some pics with it, but alas we weren’t aloud to take it with us. That's ok. The hike took us about 4.5 hours to go there and back. Mary was a fantastic guide, she showed us all sort of plants and birds, she's really passionate about the outdoors, and it showed.

After the hike I got back and had a great supper, Mary it turns out was my neighbor, so she came over and we had super together and shared a pot of tea and had some good conversation. My campsite was also great! It had a nice river running though it, the only anoying thing was that the wood for fires was nearly impossible to cut. I don't have a proper ax, just a wee little hatchet so it took some effort to get anything that would work for a fire, but in the end I prevailed and had a nice fire to end the day.

Today I continued down the road, following the guide that I found on the internet. It's called the Dempster Travelogue. It give a km by km outline of ever stop and feature. It's a great publication. Check it out here. I stopped at this place called Elephant Rock. Off on one of the ranges there is a formation that actually looks like an elephant! I also stopped at this place with all these flat rocks and people have build inukshuk's. So I built one too. I don't think it'll stand the test of time, but I've officially made my mark way out here. I passed a place where the there had been a forest fire. All the trees looked like bean pole people leaning off at random directions. It was kinda neat looking. The last 100km or so it was wet and rainy, but the road was still good, now my van looks the part! Hehe! I have been a little disappointed on the wild life front however. I haven't seen hardly anything since I traveled from Watson Lake to Whitehorse. Today I was lucky to see a bald eagle sunning it self on rocky ledge, and I also saw a young grizzly having a snack in the ditch. I tried to make it look at me so I could take it's pic, but apparently grass is a lot more interesting ... I don't know what that say's about me ... I suppose I'm lucky the bear did want to have me dinner :)

So now, I've done my laundry had a shower and a hot meal and I'm ready to hit the road. Tomorrow I offically cross the Arctic Circle! It think that'll be pretty rad! The next stop is Ft. McPhearson then it's onto Inuvik! PARA So far I'm having a great time! I think that everybody should make the trek up here at least once int their life, but don't take my word for it! Come see it for yourself!

I wanted to post some pics but the internet here is too slow. But that's to be expected, I am after all less that an hour away from the Arctic Circle! hehe! Perhaps I'll try when I get to Inuvik. If not then when I get back to Dawson City

~ Until next time

Holy Man-venture Batman!

2011-07-09T19:44:00.004-06:00

WOW! Where to begin! So I am currently in Dawson City, and let me say this little town is SOOOOOOOOO RAD! I love it here! The place is uber rich with history, so much history that the air feels thicker. Dawson City if you didn't know was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush. Que Wikipedia now ….

The Klondike Gold Rush, sometimes referred to as the Yukon gold rush, was a frenzied gold rush that drew tens of thousands of would-be prospectors from all over the world to the Klondike River near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada after gold was discovered there in 1896. The gold rush lasted only a few years, essentially ending in 1899. In total, about 12,500,000 troy ounces (390,000 kg; 860,000 lb) have been taken from the Klondike area in the century since its discovery.

In it's heyday Dawson City had a population of around 30,000, men and women from all over the world. They came here in order to make it rich, the sad part is that only a small few actually did find that gold that was promised. I went to the Dawson City museum today (more on that later) and watched the a short little film about the Gold Rush. The impression that I got was that people thought there was so much gold that they could just scoop it up off the ground with a shovel. In reality, however, those that didn't get here early had to dig into the permafrost to get it. Sometimes they would have to dig upwards to 100 feet into the ground to get the gold. But once you had it you could get what ever you wanted!

In the film the narrator tells a couple local legends about guys with gold. One guy wanted a girl so bad that he paid her, her weight in gold! Another story was that a guy filled a bath tub with champagne and then paid a girl to take a bath in it. Keep in mind that a glass of champagne cost $30, that's $30 in 1899! That have been an astronomical amount! Other prices from the film, $2 for 1 egg; $5 for a glass of milk. Those who didn't get rich from the gold made their fortune in business. And fortunes could be won and lost in a day at the card table. In spite of all that Dawson city was virtually crime free. The Mounties kept a tight reign on things, nobody was aloud to carry a gun, and there wasn't a single murder, and everything was shut down on Sunday! The film said they were so strict about the Sabbath that they even fined a man for chopping wood!

But enough of the history lesson for now, back to my adventures. Let me take you back to Watson Lake … my long dark night of the soul … I was indeed ready to turn back, but I'm feeling much better now, both in body, mind and soul. I think that I ate something manky which gave me a mild case of food poisoning. I wasn't feeling well at all! An upset stomach, plus not being able to sleep (read: too much coffee too late in the day …) plus being a bit lonely = life sucks a bucket full of rancid pig face.

So I journeyed on from Watson Lake to Whitehorse ...

This is in between Watson Lake and Whitehorse

I had to stop half way through and have a nap … after I took the pick above a slept for an hour! In Whitehorse I met up with Kathy's cousin Andrea. I arrived at her place just in time to be invited to an art opening, which was kinda cool. I've never been to an art opening before, it was at this cool little gallery call Gallery 22. Here's a link about the exhibit. The gallery is above this cool record store/tatoo parlor/marijuana gear supply place … if you get my drift. Anyways, it was cool to meet some of Andrea's trendy cool friends. I felt cool myself for a moment then I remembered that I hadn't shaved or showered in 2 days and prolly looked like death casue I wasn't feeling well … Andrea's friends were really gracious and made small talk with me to make me feel at home. I didn't do much in Whitehorse, I'd been there before so it wasn't really new. It's a cool city though. It's very modern feeling … they have not one but TWO Starbucks! How cool is that!

Yesterday (July 8^th) I drove from there to Dawson City, where I'm currently at. The drive here was really nice. I stopped at this place called 5 Finger Rapids. I'll post pics later, but it was about a 10-15 minute hike off the highway to get to the observation deck above the river. And to get there you had to walk down over 200 stairs, not so bad going down, coming back up took a bit of work though :) The country side is full of nice leafy trees and lakes, and the weather was great too.

Dawson City is unlike any town that I've ever been to. Like I said the air is thick with history, and one of the reasons is that buildings look like their straight from the height of the Gold Rush.

They've done a great job making it look a touristy!

Brightly colored “western looking” buldings line the streets, and there are places like Diamond Tooth Girties Gambling Parlor, The Eldorado Hotel and the Bonanza Market. So when I got into town yesterday I checked into my B&B , the 5^th Avenue B&B. (click the link) The family who owns it are really nice and they room is great! After I got settled I went for a walk.

I walked down Main Street where they have all the gift shops and such, They also have a “down town” which has more stores and what not. I went for super at a place called Sourdough Joes, and had Alaskan Sockeye Salmon fish and chips … yummy! … that evening I went to Diamond Tooth Girties. It's a non-prophit casino and old fashioned dance hall where the MC, Diamond Tooth Girtie, sings and shows off her can-can girls. There are three nightly shows, I went to the first two (8:30 & 10:30), and I wanna go to the 12:00 show … maybe I'll do that tonight, apparently it's the best! … They put on a really great show, with lots of audience participation, it's also Canada's oldest Casino, so I gambled away my $5 bill, with no results, but that's ok, it was fun! And the show was great!

After a good night's sleep and a fantastic breakfast, I went exploring. In the morning I went to the big museam, they have a train museam attached to it. They had a demo of a rocker box, (click the link and let Wikipedia tell you all about it) and a live Miners Meeting drama, where one “lucky” audience member gets accused of some crime and it's up to the rest of the audience to find him guilty or not … in this case not … but I would have voted for him to be lynched, his argument was super weak! Hehe … after lunch at the Bonanza Market (I had the best sandwich in the world!) I went in search of the ship wreck grave yard.

After the gold rush ended they had all these paddle wheeler's left over that nobody wanted so they ditched them on the banks of the Yukon River. To get to them I had to hike through the woods along the river. Seemingly out of nowhere you begin to see old boards, and mettle pipes and such. Then you come along 3, possible 4 rotten and decaying boats. On one you can see it's name, and the old steam stacks are falling down. There is splintered wood all over the place, but on a couple you can still see the frame of an old ship. The place had a very eerie feeling about it. It felt like they kinda place where you can't make any noise, and if you were to speak you should whisper. It felt haunted. Not haunted as in satanic/evil haunted. But haunted with the ghosts of the thousands who came up here to seek fame and fortune only to be denied. I think it's possible one of the coolest experiences that I've had in my life. To be all alone in the woods with these ships. It's really hard to describe … like I said, the place is thick with history.

Here's some video and pics from the Sternwheeler Graveyard

After my experiences in the graveyard I went to Robert Services Cabin. He's a famous poet. Kathy gave me a poem by him. It's pretty cool so here it is …

School yourself to savour most

Joys that have but little cost;

Prove the best of life is free,

Sun and stars and sky and sea;

Eager in your eyes to please,

Proffer meadows, brooks and trees;

Nature strives for your content,

Never charging you a cent.

Learn to love a garden gay,

Flowers and fruit in rich array.

Care for dogs and singing birds,

Have for children cheery words.

Find plain food and comfort are

More than luxury by far.

Music, books and honest friends

Outweigh golden dividends.

Love your work and do it well,

Scorning not a leisure spell.

Hold the truest form of wealth

Body fit and ruddy health.

Let your smile of happiness

Rustic peace serenely stress:

Home to love and heart to pray–

Thank your God for every day.

After that I went up to the top of Dome Road. From there you have a fantastic view of the valley and Dawson City, and to cap it off I went for ice cream and had a chocolate dipped waffle cone with Espresso Flake and Rolo ice cream and a coffee … sooo good!

It was a great day! Now I'm just chillin back at my B&B, I'll go have something to eat later, the ice cream filled me up, and I also need to get some groceries for the next leg of my adventure. Whitehorse has a Walmart so I got most of my stuff there … all caned goods and PB&J that won't go manky! … but I want to get some fruit and some carrots to munch on.

Tomorrow I begin my trek up the Dempster. I stopped in at the North West Territories info booth that lady there said the highway was in good condition, and she gave me some good tips. Like make sure you wash your car when you get to Inuvik or it's suck to wash later, and to go slow, which I had planned to do anyways.

So now you're all up to date! My next place with internet is Eagle Plains so I'll be sure to to update you on my progress so far!

~ Until next time!

ps. You all should come up here! At least once in your life time. It's definitely worth the trip … unlike Steinbach!

Home Sick

2011-07-07T01:30:00.001-06:00

It's 12:15 and it is just getting dark. I don't think I should have had the coffee earlier cause I'm not that tired yet. And because it's late and the campground is quiet I feel lonely. I miss my family. I've never been homesick before and if I had not committed to dumping the bottle of water that I brought from home into the Arctic Ocean I would probably pack my things up right now and turn back.

Being alone is not my thing. I like to be around people that I know, that I'm familiar with. Change is not easy for me, just ask Kathy and she'll tell you! Once I have a routine or thing in place it sucks when I have to break it. And being alone is change, and alone sucks.

Just now I remembers two things. The first: Psalm 77. It's a lament. I'm feeling Psalm 77 at the moment.

The second: it was a thought that I had while driving across the prairies. "the same God is here as back home" The omnipresence of God clicked in my brain just then. I know the term and believe it but there on the highway it became real. I don't know if that makes any sense.

So I feel alone, I feel in lament. But I know that the same God is here as back home.

My soul is a little lighter and I feel tired enough to try to sleep. Thanks or listening

~ Until next time

A Man-Venture Day 5 & 6

2011-07-06T16:55:00.002-06:00

I've made it to the Yukon! So far since I left my place on Friday I've driven exactly 3030.5 km! That's a long way from home! But not as far as some of the license plates that I've see while driving. I've seen plates from Texas, Florida and New Jersey, just to name a few.

Yesterday, July 5^th, I left the Rolla and headed for my first camping spot. The Liard Hot Springs. If you haven't been you should definitely add it to your traveling bucket list. It's a great campground and the hot springs are not the kind of sterile ones that you might find at Banff; where they pump in hot water then steralise it, the result is that you are sitting in a really big hot tub. These one have been left as natural as possible. They have added nice crushed rock to the floor and some change rooms and a board walk, but the water itself is as natural as it comes, and its HOT! Much hotter than your average hot tub.

Anyways, I think I got really lucky and got the last campsite! I followed an RV into the campground and when we reached a fork in the road he went one way and I the other. I found a spot and was heading back to the main gate to pay when the RV passed by me and left. This was a relief cause the last time Kathy and I came out here we had to camp in the overflow camping, which is just a big parking lot. So the moral of the story is if you wanna camp at Liard either leave really early from Dawson Creek or Spend the night in Ft. Nelson and leave the next day

The road to Liard is a great drive, it's really twisty, and narrow, but the scenery is amazing! There were times when there was a rock face to my left and a lake to my right, with no shoulder! It was good times. I could imagine James Bond zipping through there in his Austin Martin.

Last night was my first chance to try out my camper van. It was nice and cozy and it kept the light out, which was good cause when I went to be at around 10pm it looked like it was about 6pm back home. My only quam was that this morning when I woke up I was cold, I didn't use all my blankets cause when I went to sleep I as hot. I won't make that mistake again tonight.

Today's drive to Watson Lake was fairly quick. It only took me about 2 ½ hours to get here. I saw lots of wild life today! More than I did yesterday. Yesterday I only saw a few mountain goats, but today I saw a whole herd of buffalo, there were probably 20ish buffalo just hanging out on the side of the road munching the grass. I saw about 9 black bears, there was one that I should have stopped to take a picture of, it was sitting on it's butt looking at a bus full of sight-seers! I can imagine what it's thinking, “ooo a red bus! I haven't seen one of those in ages! All I ever see are cars and trucks!” Anyways, so I made it to Watson Lake and took a tour of the Sign Post forest and went to my camp site. For those that don't know whatthe Sign Post Forest is, it's really cool! It all started in 1942 when I home sick G.I was ordered to repair a sign post that had been damaged by a bulldozer. The sign post had signs pointing to various places with their distances on them. Private Carl K. Linday decided to personalize the post by adding a sign to his home town Danville, Illinois. The idea snowballed and people have been people have been adding signs to it ever since! I'll post some pics of it later, but if you wanna get an idea of what's it's like do a Google image search for it.

For the rest of the afternoon, cause my camp site is a little bit out of town I decided just to relax for the rest of the afternoon. I had a nap, went of a walk and now I'm hanging out in the sun, sooo nice!

One more thing before I sign off, if you have ever journey up here and have your cell coverage through Rogers be warned that there is no coverage after Ft. St. John. I figured that I would at least make it to Whitehorse before I ran out of service, but that's ok. On the bright side my phone doesn't need to be charged as much!

Tomorrow it's on to Whitehorse, then Dawson City where I hear there is an “Old Time” saloon that puts on a great show! I'll be sure to tell you all about it!

~ Until Next Time

The Rolla Farm & Mile Zero!

2011-07-04T16:15:00.005-06:00

In 1912 my Great Grandpa settled in Rolla, BC. He began farming here and actually named the town of Rolla. He wanted a post office here the Canada Post said they needed a name so he named the town after Rolla Missouri. When my Great Grandpa retired he passed it down to my grandpa, and when he retired he passed it down to my Uncle Gordon. I have plans and aspirations to buy the farm one day. I think after 100 years it would be a shame to sell it to some random guy. My mom grew up here, and I mentioned yesterday I spend many a summer here. So if any of my cousins read this I think we should get together and all put in a buy the place so that our kids can make their own memories here.

Here are a couple memories:

There is a creek running through the property. On the day of my grandma's funeral my cousins Rhonda, Tilly and myself decided that we would go down the creek for an adventure. About 15 minuted into our hike Tilly got stuck in the mud and fell into the creek. I laughed so hard that when she came out and pushed me in! The end of out hike we had to climb up this dirt embankment, the result was that all three of us ended up covered in mud. We walked back to the farm just in time for all my aunts, uncles and other various older folk to come outside for refreshments. The look on their faces was great! They were shocked at these muddy creatures walking across the lawn and of course we had the time of our lives

I also like to mow the lawn when I come out here. I know it's odd, but Uncle Gordon has a riding lawn mower, which is WAY cooler than a push mower. One such time when I was mowing I accidentally mowed over a couple trees that he had just planted AND I drove the mower into a bush. All within about 15 minutes of each other!

Another time Tilly and I made a mini-golf course. Another time I borrowed Uncle Gordon's mini bike and ran out of gas about a mile down the road and had to push it back, another time Uncle Gordon took us flying in his little Cessna plane, another time we roller bladed up the highway to the general store to buy candy … there a many more “another time”'s

Also just for fun today I decided to go have my picture taken at the Mile Zero Post. Since I'll be leaving early tomorrow morning I won't have a chance to do it. So here it goes! I probably won't be able to blog until I get to Whitehorse on Thursday, but you never know. I'm officially off onto places that I've never been before! I'll let you know how it is!

~ Until Next Time

The Rolla Pub

2011-07-04T15:48:00.006-06:00

The Rolla Pub is quite unlike any pub that you'll probably ever go into. Here's a quote

Rolla is a tiny hamlet about 15km from Dawson Creek, A cozy community, it is home to the famous – or infamous – Rolla Pub. It doesn't look like much when you drive up – just a run-down square box of a building with a sign out front./ But openthe door and suddenly you know you are no longer in Kansas, Dorthy! The walls of the Rolla Pub – heck every available square inch – is covered with photographs, plaques, pictured pennants, knick knacks and more. It's an explosion of kitsch.
Check out the photos on the wall. They're of local families, their kids and friends. Trophies and plaques commemorate events and accomplishments that you would expect to see in someone's living room. In fact, the Rolla Pub feels like someone's living room – a cozy, cluttered, well loved living room.
Service at the pub is warm and friendly and before long, folks at the next table are chatting us up. The beer is cold and the company warm with make for a great combo!

There wasn't anyone there when I stopped by, but at 1:00 in the afternoon that's not much of a surprise. The guy who was holding down the fort told me a little bit of the history of the place, and showed me some of it's treasures. A pelvic bone from a saber tooth tiger, and a leg bone from a mammoth were just someof such treasures. The cool thing about the Rolla Pub is that next to those bones is a great collection of Ninja Turtles! It really is a mash of up everything! Check out the video and the pics and you'll get the idea … and BTW … the beer was cold and quite tasty!

Having a beer

Ninja Turtle Collection.

As promised, world largest urinal!

~ Until Next Time

A Man-venture Day 3 & 4

2011-07-03T22:25:00.003-06:00

Smack in the middle between Saskatchewan and Alberta.

I've finally reached the beginning of my trek north. I am currently in Rolla, BC home of the family farm. I've spend many a summer up here. It's probably the one place on earth that I feel truly at home. I have great memories out here and every time I return I feel at peace with the world, like I've been traveling for a long long time and now I've finally returned to settle down, if only for a few days.

Dawson Creek also is the beginning of the Alaska Highway, I'll be traveling on that until I get to Whitehorse. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of wild life, so far the only wild life I've seen is a "Watch for Moose on the Highway" sign!

As was mentioned in an earlier post, I had a great visit with Mike and Rachael. Continuing my trek west from North Battleford I arrived in Edmonton so see Kathy and Alan Fiebich.

Kathy and I spent a few summers working at camp together and we are still close after all these years. They made me a great supper and after we went to see Super 8 in the theater at West Ed. I think when I return back there on my way home and ride the Mind Bender! It's a sweet coaster.

After an amazing breakfast of homemade waffles, bacon and coffee I journey on, stopping in the middle of the “mountains” they're not really mountains but it's a the top end of the Rockies so technically I guess they are foothills, but whatever, it was hilly and cooler through there than when I left Edmonton or arrived in Grand Prairie. So I stopped briefly to have lunch and call Kathy then I enjoyed a Starbucks in Grand Prairie and had some fun taking pics at the world's largest beaver in Beaverlodge.

Eva gave me this little monster while I was packing ... you'll see lots more of him! :D

"HEY BEAVER! YOU HAVE SOMETHING IN YOUR TEETH!"

Some people have asked why I am heading to Inuvik. To explain that I'm going to point your in the direction of Kathy's blog, she said everything that I would have said anyway so I'll let you read that there. But the short of it is, I wanted to go somewhere unique, I wanted to explore a part of the world few people will ever be bothered to go to. Anyone can go to a resort in Mexico and sit in the sun, but not everybody is brave enough to do a solo trip up past the Arctic circle. I'm not saying I'm brave enough to, but I heard somewhere once that to have courage doesn't mean you don't get scared, having courage means conquering those fears and moving forward, so I suppose that is what I'll try to do. Conquer any fear and doubt and press on towards my goal … having both feet the the Arctic Ocean, and Lord willing I'll gonna get there. I found a quote by Shakespeare, that is on another post, it kind of sums up what I'm thinking.

“Our Doubts are traitors

And make us lose the good we oft might win

By fearing to attempt”

To close on a lighter note maybe tomorrow I'll stop by the Rolla Pub for a pint and use the worlds largest urinal before I leave! No joke it is! I'll take a picture of it!

~ Until next time!

That's A Whole Lotta Dog

2011-07-02T07:31:00.003-06:00

So yesterday I commented about Mike and Rachael's Dogs...

Update 1: It was Rachael's idea to get a second one ... Juno

Juno

Update 2: when I talked about how big Oden is, his shoulders stand at 34'' and he's probably 6' long from nose to tail.

Here's some pics:

Oden (left) & Juno (right)

There're really friendly! And always looking for an ear scratch!

~ Until next time!

Man-Venture Day 1

2011-07-01T23:29:00.004-06:00

Just time for a quick post before bed!

I'm off on my man-venture! Here's me and my "camper" van moments before leaving!

I arrived safely in North Battleford. They day wasn't as long as I anticipated, but by the time I got here I was a little sick of seeing the same prairie field over and over and over and over and over ... well you get the point.

I stopped in Russell, MB home of Olympic Champion Jon Montgomery. It was a nice little town. The downtown street had these cool arch thingers.

My only other major stop for the day was in Saskatoon. It took me forever to find a place to get gas, well maybe it seemed like forever casue I really had to pee, but eventually I found a pit stop and was able to take care of business ... by that I mean I got gas ... hehe ... then a quick super at Moxies and a coffee from Starbucks! Yummy!

I did stop briefly at the Saskatchewan border to snap a pic. The sign was rather nicely decorated with these lovely stickers, I found them amusing!

I had a good visit with Mike and Rachel and they two GIGANTIC dogs! They have Newfoundlanders. Their one dog Oden, no jokes, comes well past my waist when he's standing. They're cool dogs though. Kudos to Rachel for putting up with them :)

Good night all! Tomorrow onto Edmonton!

~ Until Next time!

10 Rules 12 Suggestions

2011-06-28T19:07:00.005-06:00

I was thinking about crazy people the other day. Not crazy, as in bug eyed schizophrenic crazy, but crazy as in running around like chickens with their heads cut off-messed-up-life kinda crazy. I reasoned that these crazies can be helped and I came up with some rules and suggestions to help them balance out their life. So if this sounds like you give them a try.

10 Rules
1.) Phone a friend. ~ the most important part of the journey is to have someone to help you along and hold you up when you stumble.

2.) Be in bed WITH the lights out by 11:00pm ~ being sleep deprived is the most common cause of low productivity.

3.) Eat Breakfast! ~ Don't give me the excuse that it makes you feel sick. The reason you feel sick is because of the meal sized snack you had last night at midnight ... An hour before you went to bed. It's the most important meal of the day. Even something light such as a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios will kick start your metabolism and give you a much need energy boost to help start your day.

4.) Along the same lines as #3 wake up early enough to eat breakfast at your kitchen table each day. Waking up 10 minutes earlier will make a huge difference.

5.) No Alcohol
6.) No Tobacco
7.) No Drugs ~ these three hamper the ability to think straight. If you are constantly using these to take the edge off in social situations you never learn to be yourself. YOU ARE MORE INTERESTING THAT YOU THINK YOU ARE! You don't need stimulants.

7.) Cut out the social media. ~ People don't need, nor do they care, to know that you achieved level 56 on Smurf Village. And you don't need to let everybody on the planet know that you are "OMG Sooo drunk right now!" if you want to know what is happening in your friends lives, call them and go for coffee instead of creeping their Facebook profile!

8.) Exercise at least 20 minutes a day ~ 2.5 mile run, or a 5km walk or bike ride will make you feel and look great. You could also set a goal or running in a local 10k or do 100 miles in 100 days. What ever you do get off the couch and outside! And the weather is no excuse. I ran a Half Marathon (13.1 miles) in February in -30!

9.) Journal every day. ~ Even if the days entry is 5 lines describing your day. It'll give your brain a chance to process and unwind.

10.) For 4 weeks keep a log of every purchase you make. This way you will know what you are spending your money on, and it help you budget and plan for the future. Money is one of the biggest stresses in a persons life. The simpler you make it the better!

12 Suggestions
1.) Read a book that has nothing to do with life. It's purely pleasure.

2.) Read a biography of somebody you find interesting.

2.) Leave your phone in your pocket when you are out with friends. You have more to offer than you think.

4.) Find a cause worth fighting for. There are things in life that are worth getting angry about. Your team loosing the Stanly Cup is not one of them!

5.) Go on a crazy road trip. If it's true that we are the sum of our experiences, then go have some!

6.) Be generous. Both with time and money.

7.) Be informed. Get all the facts, then make an informed opinion. This will also help you complain about stuff more effectively and you won't come off as a huge jerk!

8.) Listen more than talk.

9.) Never deviate from the plan!

10.) Surround your self with positive people. Negative people only care about their own self pity.

11.) Cut out the processed foods. Fresh is best.

12.) Change one thing about your day for 30 days. If you always go to Starbucks for your morning brew. Today try Second Cup. It will keep your life from getting dull.

There we go. Follow these 10 rules and 12 suggestions and in 4 weeks your life will be more fulfilling. Also if you need, don't be afraid to seek professional help. Trained therapists have resources and experiences that will help you get your life on track, and many health plans include some if money for mental health. Seeing professional help is not something to be ashamed of. Being a better you will not only make life more enjoyable it will also increase the quality of your relationships with friends and family. So get started today! If you want a hand, and live in my area send me an email and I would more more than happy to help!

Let me sign of with a quote from Shakespeare

"Our doubts are traitors

And make us lose the good we oft might win

By fearing to attempt."

~ Until Next Time

A Man-Venture

2011-06-27T19:43:00.002-06:00

So in 4 day's I'm going to embark on a Man-Venture. I'm going to traveling to Inuvik, North West Territories. Why? You ask? Because I've never been there. One of the bonuses of my job is that I get every summer off! Horray for working in a school! So this year, because I am 30, and because I wanted to adventure to somewhere I've never been before, I decided that I wanted to go north. I discovered the Dempster Highway (CLICK THIS LINK, use Google Street View to travel the highway) when I was searching for some where to go. The Dempster Highway is Canada's northern most maintained road. WIKIPEDIA HERE From what I've read about it, the trip is not for the faint of heart. There are only two places along the road to get gas or car repairs, and I've read stories about people having to wait days for a part to arrive to fix their car. But all that aside, I figure if I go prepared then I'll be fine. The potential highlight of my trip however will be a flight to Tuktoyaktuk. (SEE HERE) The B&B I'm staying at offers flights and tours there, so I figured, what not! I'm this far north I might as well see how far I can get.

Here is my itinerary if you want to follow along. As was mentioned before you can use Google Street View. Also click the links below to see some info!

July 1st - Otterburne to North Battleford, SK

July 2nd - North Battleford to Edmonton, AB

July 3rd - Edmonton to Dawson Creek, BC

July 4th - Chill in Dawson Creek and get supplies

July 5th - Dawson Creek to Liard Hotsprings

July 6th - Liard Hotsprings to Watson Lake, YT and the Sign Post Forest!

July 7th - Watson Lake to Whitehorse

July 8th - Whitehorse to Dawson City, YT

July 9th - Chill in Dawson City and get supplies

July 10th - Dempster Highway day 1. I'm going to camp at Engineer Creek

July 11th - Eagle Plains, YT. This is the half way point.

July 12th - Eagle Plains to Ft. McPhearson, NWT Between these to points at KM 404 of the Dempster I'll cross the Arctic Circle!

July 13th - Inuvik!

July 14th - Flight to Tuktoyaktuk

July 15th - Chill in Inuvik

July 16th - July 24th - Back to Dawson Creek, BC

July 25th - July 27th - Chill in Daweson Creek. I think I'm might to out to the camp I worked at for the day.

July 28th - Dawson Creek to Edmonton

July 29th - Edmonton to North Battleford

July 30th - HOME!

So that's my man-venture! I'll be traveling solo and camping in my van along the way. I'll have my iPod full of block-rockin-beats and my camera! I'll try to update my blog as I go, I think a few places along the way have free wi-fi, so be sure to check back often in July to see what's new. Also I'm gonna be compiling a video of all my pictures that I'll upload to youtube when I return.

Until next time ...

It turned out to be a nice evening!

2010-08-15T19:09:00.003-06:00

Kathy, Eva, Kathy's Mom, Zoey and I went for a walk this evening. It had rained all day, but then all of a sudden the sun came out! So we decided to go for a walk. I took a couple pics on my phone.

This is 360 view from the end of our road.

Here's another one

I like this pic the best!

Before and After

2010-08-10T16:46:00.004-06:00

So three years ago when Kathy and I moved to Manitoba I looked like this ...

I think at this point in my life I weighed about 230 lbs. My heaviest ever ... I was WAY overweight, I was WAY inactive, and my life WAY out of balance. My idea of being active was walking from the car to McDonalds to have a Big Mac!

On Fathers Day this year. I looked like this!

I has just completed the Manitoba Half Marathon in 2:22:30! That's 13.1 miles (21 km)! I ran the whole thing! If you would have told me three years ago that I would be able to run a half marathon I would have said you were crazy! The last time I weighed myself I was around 175lbs. That the lightest I've been since before high school!!! I've also lost 6'' off my waist, so now my clothes don't fit, but that ok! I don't mind! My life is WAY more balanced and I'm WAY more active! I feel great!

I just thought that I would share that with y'all.

~ Until Next Time!

St. Malo Beach and a Big Green Mug!

2010-07-20T16:31:00.002-06:00

So today Kathy, Eva and I went to the beach at St. Malo. We'd never been there before, which is weird cause we live only 20 minutes away! I think after today we're gonna spend a lot more time there!

In other news ...

The handle on my Big Green Mug fell off! Check the video to hear all about it!

Untill Next time

Manitoba Half Marathon

2010-07-02T20:31:00.001-06:00

On June 20th, I ran the Manitoba Half Marathon for the very first time!

The Sandwiko of Destiny!

2010-06-09T18:12:00.000-06:00

I was hungry and though you oughta know!

A Crazy Tuesday

2010-06-08T20:19:00.001-06:00

Today was kinda crazy ... check it out!

~ Until next time!

Eva vs. iPhone

2010-05-28T06:20:00.001-06:00

Eva got a hold of my phone ... she had a good time with it!

iTunes Single of the Week Review

2010-05-26T15:28:00.002-06:00

This weeks single of the week is Drinking Games by Library Voices (click the link to view in iTunes) This is a good song to play on a quiet Saturday night, when all you want to do is chill and listen to some softer acoustic music. It has a smooth catchy rhythm that will get you tapping your finger on that mug of coffee your just poured for yourself. Definitely worth the download.

This weeks US Discovery Download is Hannah by Freelance Whales (click the link to view on iTunes also check my other blog Cause You Gotta Know to see how to get a free US iTunes account.)

This song I would describe as "electro-coustic" It has an electronic feel, but at the same time an acoustic feel. It's the kind of song you can listen to when you want something to mellow out, but at the same time you could add it to your jogging playlist. I would also recommend downloading.

Until Next Time

My Life in 6 words

2010-05-20T09:11:00.000-06:00

If you could sumerize your life in six word or less what six words would choose?

Or if you could choose one memory. One defining moment, and tell the world in six words which ones would you choose?

Here we go ...

"My life is not a google search"

~ Untill next time

Kathy's Grad

2010-04-25T06:34:00.001-06:00

Kathy Graduated yesterday with a Masters of Arts in Counselling! Way to go babe! You're AWESOME!!!!

The Videos Work Now

2010-04-24T12:31:00.003-06:00

Hi everybody!

You are now able to check out all the videos on my blog. The last couple I uploaded right from iMovie, and for what ever reason it set the video to "private". It's all fixed and stuff now. Enjoy the videos!!!

~ Until next time!

Block Head Man

2010-04-21T19:03:00.002-06:00

I was bored this afternoon ... this was the result.

Weirdness

2010-04-13T21:35:00.001-06:00

So yesterday was all about the weirdness ... check it out

Hi My Name is Ken and I'm a Mac!

2010-04-02T19:02:00.004-06:00

Hi everybody. So i'm on spring break right now, and I though "what better way to celebrate spring than with a fancy new toy!" So I went to the Apple Store in Winnipeg and bought a shiny new MacBook Pro! This is my first Mac and I must say I enjoy it. Mac is easy to use and learn. I must also say, my MacBook Pro is WAY WAY WAY faster than my old computer, which to me is SWEET. To demonstrate this I made a video using iMovie and Garage Band

This is my first project using iMovie and Garage Band, so do be to hard on it. There will be many more videos to come in the future so hopefully I'll be able to find out all the cool tricks of the program.

So until then welcome to the wonderful world of Mac ya'll!

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 11

2010-03-17T21:08:00.003-06:00

Hi everybody! Here is the final episode of Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure!

Hopefully you all will be around for Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Rio 2016 edition! Here's hoping!

Until next time!

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 10

2010-02-27T16:32:00.003-07:00

Hey folks! As promised here is episode 10!

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 8 & 9

2010-02-27T10:04:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody!! Here are the next two episodes of Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure! Stay tuned for episodes 10 & 11!

Episode 8

Episode 9

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 7

2010-02-15T18:03:00.004-07:00

So the Olympics are finally here!! YAAA! Kathy and went and saw Short Track Speed Skating on Saturday. Check our the video!

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 5 & 6

2010-01-25T21:05:00.002-07:00

We got snowed in today. There is a drift about 30 ft long in front of my house! It's also about knee deep ... so needless to say we didn't go anywhere. So we decided to make a couple videos to pass the time. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episodes 5 & 6! Enjoy!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T18:16:00.002-07:00

This is our first Christmas as a family of three! We had a great morning opening gifts and a nice quiet afternoon. Eva and Kathy slept and I read my new book, the Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown. I roasted a small Chicken for us, with all the trimmings, it tasted great! And now we're just hanging out. When Eva goes to bed, Kathy and I are gonna watch Harry Potter 6 ... another gift from my wonderful wife!

Here is a video that Kathy pieced together. It has some clips off Eva in her jolly jumper, as well as some video of our morning

Merry Christmas!

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episodes 1-4

2009-12-17T16:29:00.002-07:00

Here are episodes 1-4 or Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure!

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 4

Pictures of what's around me

2009-11-25T19:33:00.001-07:00

So here I am sitting in my blue chair waiting for Glee to finish recording ... iPhone in hand ... thinking what should I do for 45 minutes. So to kill time I'll show you what's around me! I know you don't really care, but I know you'll read on cause if you are anything like my wife you can't resist a chance to snoop! To which she'll reply "its observing, not snooping!" So here we go ...

This is a picture of my dog Zoey. I thinks she's a pretty neet.

I had kraft dinner got supper. This is the empty bowl. Yummy KD!

Eva likes her bouncy chair. And she also likes to suck her fingers. She's 4 months old today! Happy birthday Eva!

"what... Do I have something in my mouth?" Kathy up to her usual shananigins!

Is is time yet? ... Nope it's only 8:24.

Near ...

Far...

My family ... they're pretty swell

Well that pretty much all that is around me. Wow that killed like 10 minutes. I think I'll go and play some Monkey Kick off.

Until next time ...

p.s my high score is 5123. I dare you to try to beat it! Mwha! Ha! Ha!

Weekend Update

2009-11-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Hello blog-o-sphere! Hope everybody out there is doing well! So this weekend Kathy and I pulled a few firsts. First #1 ~ We went to Fargo, North Dakota for the weekend. We has never been there before. We went to Grand Forks last summer to do some shopping before Eva was born and also to get away for our 6th anniversary. But this time we decided to trek to the bigger center of Fargo.

Which leads me to first #2 ~ we have completed around 95% of our Christmas shopping before December 1st! We're the typed of people that leave it to the semi-last minute. Not to be confused with hte Last-Minute-Christmas-Eve shopper. We would prolly go around the 15th ish and do all our shopping. But this year cause we aren't going anywhere for Christmas and because nobody is coming here we needed to get things done early so we can mail it. Fargo was fun. The mall had some good stores and we were able to take in some excelent food deals. Like at Chilis, where we got an appetizer, two plates of ribs, a killer chocolate dessert and drinks for $25! Why can't the restruants here offer such deals! And speeking of deals Target is like the best store to get stuff. It's like Zellers only not sucky! I only wish I had more money to spend on stuff.

Also on the way to Fargo we saw a town that made me want to change my name. The towns name is "Manville Gilby". I think that totally sounds like an anchor man for the news ... "For CTV news reporting from the crazy happenings I'm Manville Gilby. Goodnight!" Or maybe since Kathy won't actually let me change my name to Manville Gilby I could write a book and that could be my pen name. So if you ever see a book by Manvill Gilby you'll know it's me and than you can say you know the author of a New York Times bestseller and I'll send you a signed copy that you could sell on Ebay!

Anyways that leaves me with the 3rd and final first ... which isn't as exciting as Manville Gilby but a first nonetheless ~ The Peters family went on their first family vacation as a trio! Eva joined our adventures in the US of A! She traveled soooo well and she also shopped well. I pushed her around in her stroller all day and she had a great time playing with her rings or napping or getting oggled over by random people who were in awe of her cuteness. This one crazy lady tonight at Applebys was like "she's so adorable. If she was crying I'd offer to hold her while you eat." I'm thinking NO WAY MAN! Who just offers to hold a complete strangers baby in the middle if a restruant? Psycho!

So now you're in the loop. Untill next time. I'm Manville Gilby

100 Miles

2009-11-02T22:21:00.000-07:00

So I've joined the SRSS 100 mile club. The goal is to run 100 miles in 100 days. It's totally an achievable goal, the only issue is whether or not I'm motivated enough to run a mile every day. Today on my way home I drove around the Prov campus and planed a one mile route, and after getting everything together I went and ran the mile. It only took me 15 minutes ... So that's not too bad. It made me knees hurt though. Last spring I ran on the tredmill nearly every day but running outside is way different. I'm not sure what I'll do when it gets really cold.

In other news ... I officially got time off to go to the Olympics!! I'm looking forward to it! The olympic flame is coming to Steinbach in January I would like go see it just to complete the experience.

Anyways ... Like I said before now that I can update my blog from my phone I'll be able to update on my 100 mile progress!

Until next time!

A mobile blog!

2009-10-31T23:38:00.000-06:00

So I just learned how to update my blog from my iPhone! So for my
first email post I'll tell you all the news! No the news is that my
baby girl Eva turned 3 months old last week or that I got an iPhone on
September, or even that I won a sweet contest throught the radio where
I won a $500 dollar gift card to the apple store in Winnipeg ... Which
btw I want to use to buy a MacBook Pro ... The news is that I can now
update my blog as much as I update my status on Facebook! Good times!
Man I love haveing the Internet on my phone!!!

Untill next time ...

So it's been awile

2009-10-31T23:07:00.000-06:00

Harry Potter was Awesome!

2009-07-14T20:01:00.003-06:00

Hey everybody!

So yesterday I had the opportunity to go see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! How was I able to do this since the movie doesn't come out until tomorrow you ask? Well ... I was listening to the radio on Saturday and I heard that they were going to give away a pass to an advanced screening. So at the cue to call I called and they answered and said cause I waited on the line for so long they would give me tickets even though I wasn't the first to call!

So yesterday Kathy and I went into the city to pick up the tickets. We got them at around 1:30pm and the movie didn't start until 7 so we had some time to kill. We decided to go to the Canadian Mint cause it was something that we have wanted to do for a while. It was a pretty good tour. I got to lift a gold bar worth about $500,000. It's the most money that I have ever held in my life!!

So after that we went for supper and they we were off to the theater. It was a good thing that we arrived an hour and a half early cause the theater was about 1/4 full and about 30 min later it was over half full. We got great seats.

The movie it self was awesome! I won't tell you anything about it cause that would be lame. You'll just have to go see it your self. It met my expectations. I can't wait until 19 November 2010 for part 1 of Deathly Hallows, and 15 July 2011 for part 2!

Here is a slide show of some pics

A Crazy Rain Storm & A short animation

2009-06-19T22:02:00.002-06:00

Hey folks!

So on my way from SRSS to Touround ... from Job A to Job B there was a crazy rain storm ... it rained so hard that my waterproof jacket wasn't waterproof!

Here is a short animation I made this afternoon cause I was bored.

Wilson and The Cheesburger that Wouldn't Die

2009-06-13T17:31:00.002-06:00

Hey people!!

Here are a couple videos that I made recently ...

The first is called,

The Cheeseburger that Wouldn't Die
In February I was given a double cheeseburger from McDonalds. Just for fun I decided to leave it to see what would happen. It turns out, all that happens is that it dries out!! We decided to take ...

This one is called,

The Adventures of Wilson!
We found a ball and made a movie ... we were bored ...

Enjoy!

A Grand Time in the U. S or A

2009-05-25T11:38:00.004-06:00

Kathy and I decided to go away for our anniversary this year. This is the first year we did something other than order chineese food and rent a movie. We went to Grand Forks, North Dakota. We had super fun times! We discovered the wonderful world of Super Target. It's sort of like Zellars only way better. We also discoverd the wonderful world of flip flops at Old Navy for $1 !! I also bought a cool new watch.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. It had a pool and a hot breakfast, so we took advantage of both. On Saturday night we went to this place called 'l Bistro. I had this baked penne with shrip, crab, and scallops. It was yummy!

The craziest thing was the gas prices! We paid $2.39/gal with works out to about $0.59/l !! How is it that we pay $0.93/l in Canada and 2 hours south it's 34 cents cheaper! We are getting super ripped off!!! Dam the Man! Save the Empire! But what can you do eh?

I aslo thought it was funny how when you enter the US there are all these scanners that you pass by and they have dogs sniffing your car and the border guard has you open your doors so he can see inside and he's mean and gruff and has a gun. BUT when you enter canada there is just a person sitting on a chair in a booth and there are no scanners or dogs or guns ... It's like saying, "welcome to Canada eh? We'll let anybody in!" Maybe the Canadian Government should re-brand it self with that as thier new slogan.

Anyways, that was our weekend. It was pretty fun, we would like to go again sometime, but we need to get our passports first.

Untill next time ...

ps. Don't Panic ... Happy Towel Day ...

Hello Fellow Fellows ...

2009-05-07T08:21:00.003-06:00

Hey,

I haven't text blogged in quite some time ... here is the the update.

Kathy was away for 13 days, and I bached it up good times ... I made Guiness marinaided steak one night and that was sweet! If you wanna read about Kathy's trip GO HERE . I also watched some movies, played some video games and did some house hold projects. I painted, installed 2 dimmer switches, hung some curtin rods (BTW, what do you call 2 men with no arms and no legs hanging in a window? Curt and Rod! HA! HA! HA!) ... anyways I also hung some pictures. All in all a productive 2 weeks, but a boring 2 weeks. Life is soooo much better when Kathy is around. I would get home at 4:30pm and after letting the dog out I would stand in the middle of the living room and be like, "Ok, now what ... " It's nice t ohave someone to hang out in the evenings.

In other news ...

My job is going well. This semester started off a little slow, but it's picking up now. I get to go and work out with a student every day. I discovered that I like running, so I think I might train for a 10k event that's comming up in September. We'll see though ...

In other news ...

GO CANUCKS GO!

In other news ...

Kathy and I going to take our dog, Zoey, sheep hearding tonight. I think it'll be super fun, and I think that Zoey will have a blast. I don't really know much about it, but from the website it sounds cool. They say if your dog has natural hearding instincts, like my dog ... she's a border collie lab mix .. that providing an outlet for that instinct might calm down your dog a bit. This might be good because we might have issues if Zoey decided that our baby needs to be hearded around the living room ... it might be comical but it might cause problems .... I'll let ya'll know how that works out ...

We'll I think that's all from me at the moment .... Life is pretty steady and peaceful, which is nice, we'll see how long that lasts ... hehe ...

Untill next time ...

Rat River .... I mean Rat Lake ...

2009-04-12T16:42:00.001-06:00

Check this out. The Rat River near my house has turned into a lake!

Lullaby for Dogs

2009-03-26T18:11:00.000-06:00

A Special Announcement!!!

2009-01-09T06:59:00.001-07:00

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 2

2009-01-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

I was bored

2008-12-29T21:13:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when you leave the digital camera on the table ...

Ken and Kathy's Olympic Adventure Episode 1

2008-12-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-10T16:47:00.002-07:00

So here I am ... at the Mall in Steinbach taking pictures of Santa for another year. It's a pretty sweet gig for 8.50 per hour ... I could think of worse jobs that pay minimum wage ... and I don't even have to wear a dorky elf costume! Hooray for that ... I would have to be getting a lot more per hour to wear green tights and pointy shoes ... and I think I would end up scaring the kids away with my robust physique ... hehe ...

So far it's been pretty slow tonight... I've taken 2 pictures so far ... Hopefully it picks up a little, I'm getting kinda sick of loosing at hearts and there are only so many places that one can go on the world wide web.

Kathy and I are staying home for the holidays. My dad and Kathy's mom are coming in a couple weeks. It'll be nice to visit with them. My dad went to Europe in October and I am looking forward to seeing all his pictures. I also think it'll be nice to actually enjoy the decorations at my place for a change instead of the decorations at other peoples homes. I bought a tree yesterday and I think when I get home tonight I'll bring it inside.

Anyways I'm going to sign off for the moment ... I just procured a candy cane and I am going to go and eat it! YUMMY!

until next time ...

Holy Cow! You like never blog!

2008-11-22T20:07:00.004-07:00

It's definitely been awhile since I have had the inclination to blog. What has happened in my life since September ... not a whole lot ... let's see ...

For Halloween I was the most nerdly of nerds ... and I know what you're thinking ... "But Ken, how is that any different from how you normally are?" And there might be some truth to that quesion ....

Also in October I went to Onterio for thanksgiving and while I was there I went to the African Lion Safari where I saw a live Giraffe for the first time and I also road an Elephant ... that was pretty awesome

For November I am growing a beard ... a throw back to no shave November.

And I've had some problems with my teeth ...

As for books and gaming ... I know an odd combination. I have just finished reading through the Harry Potter series ... I have lost track of how many times I've read it, but it was still just as good! I can't wait for the 6 and 7 movies to come out. Having finished that I have decided to check out the library at my school and I discovered they have all four books in the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. I am nearly finished book 1 and I am already looking forward to reading
"The Restaurant at the End of the Universe"

Gaming wise I have purchased Fable 2. I really enjoyed Fable ... especially the Lost Chapters ... and I am having just as much fun with this one. Also 2 weekends ago Kathy and I unleashed our inner guitar hero with Guitar Hero III !!! That was good times.

But ya that's pretty much all ... life is good times!

Untill next time

ps. hopefully next time won't be like 3 months down the road ...

Hello Again!

2008-09-03T07:01:00.004-06:00

Hi everybody. How's it going? I'm doing great! Thanks for asking! :) What's new in my life you ask?? Well ...

My first day back to high school is today. Technically my first day back to work was yesterday, but that doesn't really count cause there was no students there. And technically my first real day isn't until tomorrow cause today is grade 10 orientation. But I got my schedule yesterday and I think it will be a good semester.

In other news ...

I went on vacation to BC and Alberta. I road the Greyhound Bus twice and survived both times, but I admit the two buses and the terminals that I was in were pretty ghetto. Hopefully I don't have to take the bus any time soon. I prefer driving.

Also on vacation I had the opportunity to meet my birth mom for the first time. She was exactly like I thought she would be. I even had a picture of her in my head and the funny thing is she looked almost exactly like I thought she would look, which is funny cause until that meeting in Vancouver I had never seen a picture of her. I guess it's one of those weird brain things ... I'm thinking Meet the Robinson's Brain scan thinger ....

But all and all being in BC was good times, but I am glad to be home now.

Check out the pics and suff in my video here ...

In other news ...

My trailer hasn't sold or rented yet. Boo-erns ...

In other news ...

I am reading this great book called The Shack. It's a book about a guy how's daughter get's killed and then one day he get a note from God telling him that He will be a the shack where his daughter is killed. The guy goes to the shack and spends the weekend with God. This book has some great ideas about who God is and the way he acks. So far it's a great book. I'm not finished yet, but when I do I might post some of my favorite points.

Anyways, that's about all that's happening at this very moment. And I sould be going cause it's almost time to head out .... back to school, back to school, so I don't look like a fool ... good times Billy Madison, good times ...

Until next time ...

Zoey The Destructor might be related to Trogdor The Burninator

2008-07-22T17:42:00.003-06:00

So the other day I get a phone call at work ....

"Zoey destroyed an entire roll of paper towel!"
"An entire roll" I reply ...
"Yes ... I took pictures ...."

And Speaking of Trogdor the Burninator

A Blast from the past!

2008-07-05T09:57:00.002-06:00

I was sorting pictures last night and I came across these jems!!!

Our Humble Abode

2008-06-30T17:38:00.002-06:00

Hello everybody out their! So we've moved YET again! The good thing about this move is that we're only moving about 200 meters from where we've living now. We've spent the past 2 days painting and I'll upload another video of all that after we move

Untill then check it out!

At least Zoey doesn't eat poisonous frogs!

2008-06-17T21:19:00.003-06:00

I read the paper every day at school ... yes I know what you must be thinking ... "you get paid to read the paper at work!", and if you weren't thinking that you are now and to answer you question, "yes I do get paid to read the paper at work" ... it's just one of the perks. Anyways, There are a few sections that I usually pay closer attention to, the opinion section (it's sometime fun to read others peoples comments on things), the comics (my favorite is pears before swine) and a section called In the Doug House by Doug Speirs. His columns are light hearted and it seems to make the rest of the bad news that usually fills the paper a little less sucky. Today's column was especially funny.

The reason that todays column was especially funny is because I have been wondering what goes through my dog's head when she takes the bag that contains all of our plastic bags off the hook, proceeds to take every bag out of the "bag bag" and then systematically eats EVERY one and yet leaves the "bag bag" untouched ... in case you are wondering this happened yesterday. And this isn't the only thing that she's eaten. She's chewed apart about half a dozen pens and/or penciles, two baseball caps, a pair of flip flops, a pair of flip-flops, a two liter milk carton, numerous wrappers (mc hammer was her favorite ... gufaa ... ) and other paper products ... most of those I must add were my things ... so yes, I have often asked Zoey, "why! why must your chew my stuff!!" and today's column provided the answer ... check it out.

The Burning Question that Drives all Dogs
by: Doug Speirs

Remember when you were a kid and your aunt and uncle went away on a trip, and your dorky little cousin (let's call him Toby) had to stay at your house for a couple of weeks, and he was easily the most annoying kid in the universe, and your parents made him sleep in your room, even though his snoring could easily drown out your average heavy-metal band?

Remember how you'd lie in bed, wide awake, eyes bugging out as Toby snorted and snorked at a decibel level that would rattle the windows on the International Space Station (if they had windows on the International Space Station) and you'd try to calculate just how angry your parents would be if you got up the next morning and explained that, purely by accident, you had somehow smothered your cousin with your pillow?

But then a couple of weeks later, after Toby had finally gone home, it sloooowly dawned on you that, even though the little doofus snored and picked his nose and followed you around everywhere and wore goofy glasses held together by duct tape, you still kind of missed him because he knew how to do cool stuff like burp the alphabet backwards or eat something so gross just the thought of it made you want to be sick.

Remember that? Well, that's exactly how I feel right now because Toby went home on the weekend after spending two weeks at my house while his family was away on vacation. The only difference in this case is that Toby isn't my cousin; Toby is my boss's dog.

And when I say "dog," I mean Toby is half beagle and half basset hound -- meaning he's about as smart as a toaster, but barks more. Regular readers will know I already have two dogs, so this means that, statistically, I have spent the last two weeks living under the same roof with three dogs.

I will be the first to admit that cohabiting with three dogs is not a "good fit" for everyone. For example, it would not be a "good fit" for sane people.

Here's a pop quiz to help you decide whether you could handle three dogs in your house -- What do the following have in common: a) a wallet; b) a watch; c) a set of bagpipes; d) a half-pound of fudge; and e) a dozen stuffed animals.

Give up? I'm not surprised. The answer is: These are all things my boss's dog Toby decided to eat over the last two weeks.

But we were not overly upset by this. We know this is just the way dogs roll. Dogs spend their entire lives trying to answer one question, namely: "Can I eat this?" And, if you are a dog, the answer is always: "Yes!" Like sharks, dogs enjoy eating things that do not even remotely resemble food.

Here's a good example: Over the last two weeks, whenever my daughter's friends came to visit, they would drop their purses at the front door and, not long after, I would casually stroll by the front door and notice Toby and my basset hound, Cooper, rooting through the purses and sampling whatever was inside.

Toby: "What's this?"

Cooper: "Lip gloss."

Toby: "Can I eat it?"

Cooper: "Yes."

I found an even better example yesterday when I spotted an online news story from Australia under the headline: "Toad Survives 40 Minutes In Dog's Stomach." According to this story, a dog named Bella was playing in her backyard when her owner, a rugby player named Jackson Crews, decided to feed his pet some leftover pies and pastries. (Remember, Australia is one of your major beer-consuming nations).

"I threw them on the grass and, as I did, I noticed a cane toad," the owner is quoted as saying. "Bella saw it and thought it was one of the pies. She swallowed it whole."

So Bella was rushed to the vet, where I am pleased to report everything came out just fine in the end. I will spare you the grisly details but, suffice it to say, vomiting was induced and the toad (nicknamed "Spew" by the vet's staff) hopped away, shaken but unharmed.

So what I guess I'm trying to say is we sort of miss Toby now that he's gone home. And we hope to see him real soon ... along with my son's bagpipes and about a dozen tubes of lip gloss.

So there you have it the reason that Zoey chews apart my stuff is because she asks her self,
"I wonder if I can eat all these plastic bags?"

*** 3 minutes later ***

"It turns out that I can! That's pretty cool ... oh boy air ... my favorite ...."

Until next time ...

This one time I ran up a mountain, ate some marshmallows, and then threw up

2008-06-09T22:06:00.005-06:00

Early in the new year I was approached by my pastor and he asked me if wanted to join him on an adventure. What kind of adventure I wondered, so I went to the website of a men's retreat called The Timothy Encounter and as I read I decided that this would be a good thing for me to attend.

The Timothy Encounter is an ultra intense week where young guys are stretched psychically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. It's a week of crazy psychical games, such as the rough game. The Rough Game is like football, rugby, and murder ball, all rolled up into one beautiful deadly package. The object of the game, and the only rule might I add is to get the ball through the goal. It can go through the front or the back, it just has to go through the goal ... how the ball gets there is entirely up to your team. The way usually ends up on person picking up the ball and running toward the net. The only problem is the other team has a similar goal and they will do anything in their power to get the ball away from you ... that usually ends up them hitting you as hard as they can. The prayer at the beginning of the game is not, "keep us free from injuries" but "keep us free from death". There were a couple people with dislocated shoulders and one guy took an elbow to the eye and had to go to the hospital for stitches.

Another game we played was the mud and strength Olympics. This game I think was my favorite. The mud and strength Olympics are a series of challenges like, pushing a 1/2 tone around a muddy course, hauling a water logged tree around some cones, and it all culminates with the mud course at the end.

And how could I forget the cruel and unusual game of ... let's-wake-everybody-up-at-2:00am -with-an-air-horn-and-make-them-run-up-a-mountain-in-the-rain-and-then-make-them-eat marshmallows-covered-in-chocolate-sauce game. I was literally sick to my stomach when I got down to the bottom of the hill. But even though that really sucked bum in the end it was good fun.

All this was to show you what kind of man you are, how you cope with stress, and how can God take you from who you were at 2:00am when you are wondering why you were even born, to something much greater when you leave.

The worship and teaching times were amazing. Ron McLean from Gateway in Winnipeg spoke on what success is. He said that being successful wasn't how good you are at stuff, it wasn't how special you were at this or that, but he said that being successful means making Jesus your treasure. When I heard that I began thinking, "how do I do that??" and Jesus answered me with a though, "Have you forgiven the past?" As some of you know my time in Drayton Valley was mixed. There were definitely good times, but those times of heart ache are the things that stick with you. I had within me pain, bitterness, and forgiveness. I though I had let it go, but in reality I had not. I was given the opportunity to give that to Jesus and for the first time since I had left Drayton Valley I felt that I was free. I was free of their opinions of me, I was free from the mistakes I made, I was free and at peace to move on with my life and to move on with what God had planned for me. So that was the cool part for me, and I know that is why God arranged things so that I could go.

So ya, that's my adventure. I don't know if I'll go again. The Timothy Encounter was just the thing that I needed at this point in life, and unless God calls me to go again I think I would be going just for the sake of going and having a great time, but we will see ...

To close check out a video I made of our trip!

Until next time ...

We're not in Kansas anymore Toto!

2008-06-06T16:25:00.004-06:00

So I always complain that nothing exciting ever happens where I live. But last Saturday something totally exciting happened near my house and I wasn't even around to see it!!! boo-erns!!

So there was this tornado that magically appeared in a field about 3-400 metres away from my mobile home ... which I'm amazed the tornado didn't make a b-line right for my house ... cause it seems like every time there's a tornado you hear the same report ... *imagine a news anchor* ... "and a tornado touched down the other day and destroyed a trailer park!" .... crazy hey ... it's trailer park radar must have been off ... so anyways there was tornado, and I totally missed it!!! I was in Winnipeg that day. But here are few pics that I found off the internet.

this is the headline from the Winnipeg Sun Newspaper

That road in the forground is just behind my place

I don't know who took this pic but they must have been insane to get that close!!

So ya. Thats the tornado that almost sucked up my house! I think that I shall make up a story and just say that I was there!

So there I was minding my own business when a tornado suddenly appeared out of nowhere!! I barley made it out alive. I took this picture just a it sucked me up and hurdled me a 100 miles away. The only thing that saved my life was a flock of birds that I accidentally landed on when I fell out of the sky!!!

I think that'll do .... ;)

I Found My Birth Mom On Facebook!

2008-05-17T17:10:00.002-06:00

So I posted in a while, and as the title of this blog suggests I have rather big news ... check it out!!!

Until next time ...

Indian baby born with two faces!!!

2008-04-09T16:46:00.003-06:00

An Indian baby born with two faces is doing well one month after her birth, doctors have said.Lali was born with two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes - but only two ears.And while she may seem like an oddity to some, her proud parents think she is simply a God reincarnated.

Lali was born with two faces, two mouths and four eyes

Villages come to pay their respects to the newborn 'goddess'

The baby girl was born in the rural Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, 50km north east of New Delhi. Her parents, Vinod and Susham Singh from a village called Saini, said their little girl was "a gift from God".Excited villagers claim she is the reincarnation of the Indian God Ganesha and celebrated her arrival with clapping, cheering and offerings of gifts and money.

Villages offer the newborn gifts and money

The baby is fed by hand. Doctors say she can eat normally with both mouths

Lali was born with a rare condition called craniofacial duplication, where a single head has two faces. Doctors who delivered the baby said she appeared to be in good health, and is leading a normal life with no breathing difficulties. They were initially uncertain whether the baby would have normal functions but say so far she is "doing well" and eating from both of her two mouths.
She also opens and shuts all four eyes at the same time.

You Know What Grinds My Gears?

2008-04-07T16:38:00.004-06:00

So I was thinking the other day about why I don't blog much anymore. You know what I came up with? I have nothing to complain about! Which is a good thing ... but it's a bad thing for blogger cause I really like to blog. So yesterday I produced the following video ... check it out!

ps ... here is a link to an artical in the Winnipeg Free Press tell us how we are being royally screwed at the pumps

In other news ... I have officially began the search for my birth mother. In case you didn't know I am adopted and until now I haven't really felt the need to find her. But lately I have been thinking that the time is right to find out where I came from and all that fun stuff. I don't know how this'll all turn out but I think that this process will be an adventure. What ever the outcome it will give me stuff to blog about in the future.

Until then ...

It's been exactly a month

2008-03-21T11:05:00.009-06:00

So it's been exactly a month since my last post. And it's been a crazy busy month! As I mentioned I got a permanent position at SRSS in Steinbach, and I am having a great time there. I work with some great people and the students are really cool as well.

The previous two weekend to this have been super busy. On March 7th I went to visit my Dad in Abbostford for the weekend. It was great to visit him and we had a good time hanging out. The weather was much nicer than it was here. When I left Winnipeg after work it was like -25ish and the wind was blowing. When I arrived in Abbotsford, there was light rain, but I walked off the plane not wearing a jacket and I felt warm, and on Saturday when Dad and I were out and about it was sunny and warm! We were even able to drive around with the window's cracked.

Another big event that happened that weekend is I was finally able to buy a Nintendo Wii! I totally thought that they were sold out everywhere an when I went into future shop to see in they had them it turned out that they were only hard to find in Manitoba! They had a few cases full of them. One of the coolest parts is that I was able to play Wii Sports with my Dad! We bowled and we played some Ping Pong! My Dad's Mii looks awesome! Perhaps I'll find a way to transfer them from my Wii to the computer so I can show you.

Here is a pic that I took from my camera phone as I flew over the rockies

Last weekend I my church has a men's retreat at Camp Cedarwood. It was a great weekend at a great facility. And it was also awesome to finally connect with some of the guys that go to my church. It actually feels like I have friends now. Also the speaker they had was a guy named Brian Watts. His message was really good and I felt like God spoke to me last weekend. I am still processing some of those things and perhaps in a later post I'll share some of them.

Here are some pics of the place and a crazy 150 ice slide they had there. My first run I went down on an tube but after that I went down on these wicked plastic saucers!!

This a the view from the main lounge at the camp

This the whole lodge, the rooms were nice and the food was awesome! ... notice the ice slide on the right ... it's as tall as the highest part of the lodge.

Here is the view from on top of the ice slide

Here is me with the sweet saucer that I went down on ... it was FAST!!

Next weekend is the beginning of Spring Break! YEAH!!!!! It has been a very busy month and I will be happy to have a week off to relax and play video games. I plan on buying a new game or two so that will be good times! Also next weekend my youth group is doing an all nighter so I'll need a week to recover from that! hehe ...

Until then!

A Line

2008-02-21T20:47:00.002-07:00

Here is a line that I drew! Yes one continuous line! See if you can find: my name, the beginning, and the end!

ps. if anybody wants to buy my line I am open to offers ;)

I hate germs!

2008-02-18T12:13:00.004-07:00

So I'm sick ... and I think that it was this guy who got me ... boo germs ... I hardly ever get the flu and if I do get the flu I'm usually home when I get it. This past weekend I was asked to speak at a church retreat and I was super stoked to go and have some fun but on Saturday morning I woke up with the flu!! Sucky!! So I spent all day in bed and woke up in time to speak at the sessions. So I didn't get to go do anything fun like snow shoeing, or go down the ice slide, or play in the broom ball game that the men and the teens play in every year. I did however get to see the results of the game as the loosing teens ran around the lodge in their bare feet! And to top it all of last Saturday was super warm!! So I couldn't even enjoy the reprieve from the minus bazillion that it's been.

In other news ...

I got a permanent position at the High school in Steinbach!! I will be in geography class and the Senior 1 class which is for kids who have dropped out and are getting back in to school. It should be fun! I am happy that I was able to get this position cause now I'll have a more steady paycheck which will help with the bills and we'll actually be able to save some money now! My hours are also super sweet ... Monday to Friday 9am - 4pm and I get all the school days off which means that this week I have a three day week because Friday is a professional development day! Which EA's don't have to go to!

To close it off here are a couple pictures ... one of Kathy and Zoey and the other is of Zoey's cool winter socks that she grew!

Superbowl Craziness

2008-02-03T21:58:00.000-07:00

So I had some guys over to watch the Superbowl today. And as always I had a toonie pot ... you put a toonie in a cup and guess the score and the person closest to the final score win's the pot.

We did this during the Grey Cup and I won the pot so this time around I though, "I'm going to guess that the Giant's will win, cause it's not very likely that they will, so I won't win the pot again." So wrote my guess 17-14 ... and low and behold I was right!!! Crazy hey!

Hmmmm ....

2008-01-21T20:26:00.000-07:00

Hmmm .... what to say ... this is my first post of 2008 and so I probably should say something insightful about stuff, but in all reality I have nothing really important to say. So I'll tell you about some of the non exciting things that have made this year a gooder so far ...

We bought a new-to-us-couch ...

We got a super deal and it's WAY more comfy than that old crappy thing we sat on.

***

At the moment I'm really digging the new David Crowder Band album Remedy ...

It's got some good tracks ...

***

As for video gameage I am trying to find a Nintendo Wii to purchase, but those are in hot demand at the moment but one day I'll get lucky and find one. So in the mean time I am playing Fable: The Lost Chapters ... it's good times!

And finally ... it's my birthday on Thursday. I am turning 27. Just one step closer to death :) good times ... good times ... I'm going to the Keg!! It'll be some good eats!!! ummmm.... steak ... *drools* ... imaging the sound Homer makes when he things about donuts .... um donuts ... *drools* .....

2007-12-31T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ok. It's the last day of the year so I figured that I would make a top ten of everything list.

10. 4 words, "Shun the non-believer .... shunnnnnnnnnnnnn" I discovered the wonders of Charlie the Unicorn this year. I just watched it and it was still just as funny.

9. Moving. True, moving away was a lot of work, but it was totally worth it!!

8. Buying a house! That was cool. Renovating a house ... sorta cool. And selling a house for a large profit! VERY COOL! I don't think I'll ever reno a house to that extent again, it was simply too expensive and too much of a hassle.

7. I got a sweet new phone. That was a while back, actually it was one of the first cool things I did this year. I still love my Palm Treo!!

6. I bought my first ever game boy. I love Mario!! My next big video game dilemma is whether or not to buy a Nintendo Wii or and Xbox 360. At this very moment I'm leaning heavily towards the Wii but you never know what tomorrow will bring.

5.Getting a totally kick butt job!! Read more about it here and here.

4. I got a brand new shiny guitar. Funny story about my old guitar. The guy at church came up to me after the service and was like, "Kenny I love the way you lead worship, but I HATE your guitar!!" Shortly after that our church got broken into and they perps took my guitar. It made for a rather interesting Sunday morning, but the very next day I went into the city to a new one.

3. Many trips around to visit the cousins. I always have a great time hanging around with them.

2. My Dog. It's hard to believe that we've had her for over a year now! Not only is she amazing she's also a Youtube star!! Her video has been viewed 231 times! Check it out.

And the #1 thing of the year is ... drum roll please ....

1. We bought a brand new-to-us-mobile! I love my van. I couldn't imagine driving to work every day in that crappy old corolla. I didn't rally want to drive around in another beige vehicle, but you can't be very picky when the price is good.

There you have it!! Happy New Year

Our Airplane Adventure!

2007-12-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

So Kathy and I were heading home yesterday and we were worried that we would miss our connection in Calgary. Well we made the connection in time but as we were waiting to board the plane they told us that a bird had struck the plane and that they were gonna look it over. We though to ourselves, "well at least it'll give us time to catch our breath" then about 10 minutes after they made that announcement they came on again and told us that the plane was inoperable and that they were going to fetch us a new one ... the only catch is the new plane wouldn't get in for another 4 1/2 hours!!! So instead of getting into Winnipeg at 7pm we arrived at 11:30pm!!!

While we were killing time in the airport we made this video!! Enjoy

On this day 3 years ago ...

2007-12-26T20:52:00.000-07:00

On this day 3 years ago a blog was born! In those 3 years I have posted 188 times! This will be my 189th's post.

I was reading several of the blog entries over the past 3 years, and I have notice that many times I have written about the troubles that I have had in life. I find that writing things down eases the pain of circumstance and foolishness. But there have been many things that have gone well over the past 3 years. Here are 2 of the best!

My beloved dog Zoey.

I love my dog! She's the best. She brings tones of joy, excitement, enthusiasm, and at times frustration to my life. But at the end of the day Zoey knows what's important in life!

And by far the best thing to ever happen to me is my Kathy!

In Genesis when it walks about Eve being Adam's helper it actually means savior. And that is was Kathy has been to me. She helps me see the positive side of life, she's know's where my lost things are AND she buys me Lego for Christmas!! She's by far the coolest girl on the planet!

There have been more wonderful things that have happened to me in the past three years but those are 2 of the best. To end off my 189th post celebrating 3 years of blogging history I leave you with 2 of my favorite posts thus far!

Enjoy!!!

Wednesday, January 12, 2005

I am the poster boy of healthy eating

All I will have eaten today is Pizza and rice crispy squares!!

I RULE!!

*******

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Maposaurus

The other day a shocking archeological discovery was made. A dinosaur that would have made T-rex look like a miniture poodle on the the prehistoric playground. This dinosaur was huge, vicious, and smart. It hunted in packs like wolves and had razor sharp teeth ... and what do they name it?? Maposaurus. They might have well naned it "I'm-the-woosiest-o-saurus." I feel that it is my duty to stand up to for this poor, mis-understood dinosaur. If his name isn't changed soon he will inevdibally fall into deep depression on account of a poor self image due to the poor name choice. So this doesn't happen, here are some of the proposed names.

"I-will-make-you-pee-your-pants-o-saurus"
"Before-I-devour-you-whole-do-you-have-any-last-words-o-saurus"
"Watch-out-for-my-razor-sharp-teeth-that-will-punture-your-skull -
-and-make-your-brains-leak-our-your-ear-o-saurus" (That one's for you Jordan)
"I'll-eat-your-little-dog-too-o-saurus"

There are many more that I could suggest, but in the interest of time, and because it is getting late those are my pics.

So this is Christmas

2007-12-24T17:43:00.000-07:00

Happy Christmas.

A phrase that has again caused quite a controversy. But that ok. At the end of the day there are only like 10 people on the planet who care whether or not it's "happy holidays" or "happy Christmas". So to those 10 people out there ... "happy holidays" ...

My Christmas wish this year is for balance. As I look around the world and at my own life I am seeing a trend. I am seeing a world out of balance, and I wonder long it can maintain the stress. I wonder what the stressor will be that will finally send the world over the brink. I don't think that our world can maintain high living costs and low wages. I don't think that global warming will ever be solved unless there is a radical shift in the way the world's powerful think. It doesn't matter what the common people want or think, as long as the people who control the world want more and more then nothing will change. So I pray for those people, that they will find balance.

Balance. More of some, less of others.

So happy Christmas to all who might read this. May you enjoy sharing time with family and friends and in the new year may you seek balance, for that is what I believe will lead to a happy life.

until next time ...

Good Advice ...

2007-12-21T00:49:00.000-07:00

In this day and age it seems like everybody I know is having kids ... I think I'll follow this video's advice ...

IT'S A SNOW DAY!!!

2007-12-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

A first in the history of Ken occurred today ... A SNOW DAY!!! ... all the schools were closed today cause of a blizzard!! So I have the day off, and whats even better is that I get paid for it! I have subbed for the same person for the over a week now and according to the collective agreement thinger that entitles me to be paid for a whole days work. So this morning I made $44 sleeping, and $11 watching tv and drinking coffee! *and since I have started blogging I have made another $11!!*

The reason it's a first in the history of Ken was because I lived annoying close to my school growing up. Even when it was cold enough or snowy enough to stay home my mom always made me go cause we only lived a block away ... mind you going to school those days, while annoying, was always fun cause all we did all day was art and gym, so it wasn't all bad.

In other news ...

Work is great. In fact it's the best job that I have ever had! Being and EA is more of what I expected being a youth pastor would be like. For all you youth pastors out there imagine all the fantastic things of youth pastoring with out all the other junk that you have to put up with ... that's my job! Doing this job has made me think a lot about going back to working in a church ... and at this point in my life I don't know if I ever will. I am still being faithful to the calling that God has given me, I am only doing it in a different way. Instead of working in a church, I am working in a school. I am still open to working in a church, but I will leave that up to God's timing for whatever, wherever and/or whenever that may be. Right now I am happier and more content that I have been in years ... and I love it!

In other news ...

As I mentioned I have been subbing for the same person for over a week now. The problem with that is that person works in the Power Mechanics wing. I know absolutely nothing about cars. When the oil needs to be changed I go to Mr. Lube, when my car breaks down I take it to a mechanic ... if it breaks again ... I go buy a new one. On the positive side I also work in the wood shop for part of the day, while I am not that handy, I did take wood working every year when I was in Jr. and Sr. High. And instead of just hanging around like in the morning I have a specific student that I work with.

In other news ...

My other job working as Santa's elf ... I mean official photographer ... is going good. Unless it's snowing tonight I will still have to go to work, but we'll see ... if I do end up going I think that I will just end up sitting around cause nobody will be in the mall, but that's ok. The Saturdays' that I have worked have been fun. I think that it might be a good "in" for me in the whole area of photography. I have always wanted to do more wedding photography so maybe this will be an open door for me ... we'll see.

In other news ...

Kathy and I are heading for BC in a little under a week. I'm looking forward to seeing my Dad. It's been a while since we've spent Christmas with my side of the family so I am looking forward to that. I'll be sure to post all that's happening during my Christmas adventure while I'm in Abbotsford.

We'll that's all that's been happening at the moment. Have great Christmas!!!

Until next time ...

Talking cats ... and translation

2007-11-27T23:13:00.001-07:00

Here are some talking cats ...

And here is the translation ...

funny ...

Santa Pictures

2007-11-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

So I got a job! Actually 2 jobs ... the only catch is I have worked at either yet. So the first job I got was taking Santa Picture at the Mall in Steinbach. This uber part time job takes up 9 hours in my already busy week or keeping the house clean and walking the dog ... note the sarcasm ... I start on the 27th of November and I work 3 days a week (Tuesday and Thursday evening and Saturday morning) until I leave for Christmas. I'm looking forward to it, I should be easy work and it'll put some money in the pocket so that'll be nice.

I also got a job working as and Educational Assistant for the Hanover School Division. Right now I am on their Sub list so I haven't had any work yet, but this is only the second day that I have been on the list so hopefully soon they'll call. As and EA I basically do what ever the teacher need help with, and I can be called to any school in the area. So I could be working with kids from kindergarten all the way through grade 12 ... it could be interesting. There is also the possibility that I might get a permanent full time position in a school so if that happens that'll be great!!!!

I'll prolly continue to look for more permanent work, but in the meantime these two jobs will be good.

Until next time ...

It's ******mas once again! Horray!!

2007-11-06T15:38:00.000-07:00

I was bored so I thought I would kill time by leaving my body behind and becoming a floating head.... weird huh ...

This is the post that I mentioned

Halloween 2.0 ... gee that sounds like a movie I've heard of somewhere...

2007-10-25T17:27:00.001-06:00

Here's a quote ...

Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed
~ G.J Westerton

Kids already know that evil exists ... we don't need to tell them that. So my questions is why try to hide from them something they know to be true?? I don't think that it is beneficial to shelter kids away and try to hid them from the evils of the world. We need to protect our kids yes, but we don't need to shelter them. We need to show them that whatever dragon they encounter in life can be killed.

And now here are some more of my ramblings ...

I love a good trick!

2007-10-24T02:08:00.000-06:00

Halloween is not the devil!!!!

2007-10-19T11:54:00.000-06:00

Halloween is not the devil!! the devil is the devil!! And it bothers me that Christians are sooooo allergic to Halloween that they run and hide in the basements with all the lights off like Satan him self is going to knock on their doors and ask for candy. I know that the origins of Halloween are bad, but these days there is a VERY small group of people who actually celebrate Halloween the way it was originally celebrated. People today see Halloween as an excuse to dress up their kids in cute costumes and take them around for free candy, and I think that our aversion to all things Halloween (ie, all the stuff you see in Walmart or where ever you go get your groceries) just makes us (Christians) look stupid ... so stop it!!!

Anyways, that's all for now!!!

Until then ...

IT'S SATURDAY!!

2007-10-13T11:41:00.000-06:00

It's Saturday!!! YIPPEEEEEE!!! And now for some super insightful thoughts from yours truly ...

2007-10-12T20:16:00.000-06:00

Sin ... does it matter??

2007-10-05T11:16:00.000-06:00

Kathy and I joined a small group in Steinbach. We had a good time on Wednesday night meeting people who are our own age. But what I didn't enjoy was the fact that the devotional was so shallow. It was all about how we need to try harder to put sin out of our lives ... the passage was one of Paul infamous "sin lists". Here is my issue with talking about sin ... in the grand scheme of things does it really matter?? Now before you send me a letter bomb or something let me explain.

In the OT when Moses has this encounter with God, God let's Moses in on a HUGE bit of personal information about himself. God tells Moses his name. This is the first time in the Bible that God tell us what He is called. I am, who I am. In essence God's name means, I am the deliverer who dwells with His people. This, in my mind, is what the entire bible is all about. God rescuing his people and then dwelling with them.

Ok, flash forward a few years, God is telling his people the stuff they must do when they sin ... notice when ... it's not a surprise to God that his people sin, it's a fact that he accepts and a fact that he remedy's. And for the people it's the same. They do some sort of sin, they go to the priest with their two doves and it's over. They don't dwell on the fact that they are sinners. Another interesting thing to note, it is only when the people turn their backs on Him that he sends them into exile. It's not that they sin, it's that the sin and don't care.

Flash forward a few more years. I am, God the deliverer who dwells with His people. Has actually come in the flesh to dwell with his people. We even sing about his fact during the Christmas season. Emmanuel ... "God with us" ... Only this time instead of setting up a system, God sets us a solution. One final act that will permanently fix the problem. God had finally rescued his people permanently. The only problem is us Christians go to church every Sunday and we say a sinners prayer just in case, or we go to small group and talk about how we can be more righteous by following all of Paul's "sin lists" ... I think we need to have the same attitude as Jews going to the temple, we sin ... no surprise ... we need to go to God, offer up our repentance, and then move on with life.

I would say that what matters most is what we DO as a follower of Jesus, not who we are. I love the quote by Irwin Mcmanus

We have put so much emphasis on avoiding evil that we have become virtually blind to the endless opportunities for good.

Another good quote,

Getting rid of sin in your life? Good, now it's time to go and do something.

Sin ... does it really matter? Yes, it is the thing that separates us from God, and that's a problem. But do we really need to dwell on it, talk about how to get rid of it, and place it on a pedestal in false humility?? No. Doing that places us in the same category as the Pharisees, and we all know what Jesus said about them

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness." (Matthew 23:28)

Our Planet is Strange

2007-09-28T23:03:00.000-06:00

If anyone who reads this hasn't experience Google Earth you really need to download the program and have a look at some of the weirdness that our planet has to offer.

I was watching the news the other day the had a story about a set of navy barracks in California that takes the shape of swastika and that made me want to search out some of the other things that could be found on Google Earth. After searching for a couple minutes I found this site, Googlesightseeing.com It's an amazing sight where people pose pictures of the things that they found using Google Earth. Here are a few of my favorites ... Enjoy!

Click the Pictures to see a larger image, or go to the link below the pic

The Swastika Buildings

Dancing Man

Jesus in the Dunes

Native American Listening to an iPod

Mysterious Plane

Creepy Painting

I actually caught the ball!!!

2007-09-26T16:57:00.000-06:00

So I played football today ... and I actually caught the ball!!!! It's a miracle, cause I never catch the ball!! The only down side was my team didn't have enough players so we had to forfeit the game, but we still had a good time.

In addition to playing football I drove ... and drove ... and drove some more ... I made a crazy road trip to Medicine Hat and back to register our new van ...

We bought a 2006 Toyota Seinna. It's totally awesome. Like Kathy mentioned, we wish we could have got a different color but hey you can't have it all right?? Our new ride has power sliding doors, stow and go seating in the rear, and tones of storage. It's also WAY quieter than our can, it was so nice to drive down the highway and not be deafened by the noise.

So ya ... that's my new exciting news ... and in case you're wondering ... no we aren't gonna have children anytime soon! :D

I am now typing at my new desk

2007-09-20T09:31:00.000-06:00

So yesterday I go ambitious and decided to get to work creating a desk to put my computer on. It was actually pretty easy. All I had to do take out the drawers and the supports, attach the keyboard drawer, and install the shelves for the printer and stuff. The picture doesn't do it justice cause the wall is still hideous, but hopefully that will change soon. Kathy and I are going to shopping tomorrow, so we'll go pick a paint color then. But at least now I can play Sim Golf in comfort, and I don't need to make the print on the screen HUGE so I can read it :

Football and Clones

2007-09-18T20:30:00.000-06:00

So I played football today ... it was cold ... And it's a miracle that we won. Our team didn't play that well and in the end we won by 1 point ... oh ya, did I mention that the final score was 3 to 2?? We had a couple really good chances, but luck wasn't on our side today. Also the 2 points that the other team got was cause of me. I hutted the ball WAY over our QB's head into the end zone ... hehe ... I'll have to work on that.

Onto a completely unrelated subject ...

I was also watching this show today about the 10 greatest technological invocations our our time and number 1 was cloning. That got me thinking, if we managed to clone a human would it have a soul? This is an interesting question I think cause it raised another question, where does the soul reside? Check out some quotes ...

"A clone is simply someone with the same genetic information as oneself. Twins are clones who occur naturally, rather than artificially, but I haven't heard anyone suggest that one or the other twin doesn't have a soul."
--Zodhi

"Does this mean we create the souls as part of cloning?"--eaglwulf

"If clones don't have souls, neither can they go to Hell or Heaven."--Infidelguy

"Before we can know if clones would have souls we must first ask what a soul is? Where does it reside? Is it in the body or outside? Is it tangible? ... If we do have souls, when was it put in? At birth? When we were just a zygote? At conception?"--Mithra

"This sounds like a plot to justify discriminating and deny human rights to the clones who are produced. God deals with the matters of the Soul. It is not our place to dole out who gets one and who doesn't."--jenniferlana

"Our souls are not defined by our DNA--otherwise identical twins would share one soul, right? DNA is the blueprint for a body, in which our soul may be said to reside. Building a duplicate of your neighbor's house does not replicate the family inside."--cupil

"At the end of the third month after the cells begin to divide (the end of the first trimester), God breathes the soul into the child, cloned or otherwise."--eott

Here is another question. Do you think that God would allow human cloning? In other words would there be any spiritual ramifications of cloning. This thought goes back to a previous post about the Tower of Babel. If God confused peoples speech because they were going to build a tower to the heavens (think about how chaotic that would have been ... all of a sudden the people around you are speaking rubbish), what do you think God would do if humanity though that they are a match for God ... something we do already, but now had the technology to, in a way prove their claims.

Anyways, I though I would share just some interesting questions with ya'll

g'nite!

It's been a while

2007-09-17T13:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I did something that I hadn't done in a long time ... I went to church. Since June 3rd I had been to church one time, and even that one time wasn't a very positive experience. In fact it was the sort of experience that made me think to myself, "I knew I wasn't missing much" it was the sort of experience that made me think, "Do I really belong at church?"

Just to clarify, nothing bad happened at the church I attended, the people were really nice, they had a guest speaker that day and her message was really good, and even though the music wasn't super, they hymns they played were good. But the whole time I was there I just felt uncomfortable. I felt like I just didn't belong with these people. I felt like a non-Christian who was attending church for the first time. It felt foreign, forced, and fake. That feeling hadn't changed until I went to church yesterday.

Kathy and I went to this church in Steinbach called Calvary Chapel. The reason that we went was cause we found their website randomly on the web and thought to ourselves, “cool, let’s go check them out” And so we went. There was nothing abnormal about the church. It was your average service, we sang some songs, we listened to a message, and we shook hands with the people around us. But the difference this time was the music felt authentic, and real. The people seemed genuine, and even the message, though I don’t remember what he preached on … 5 things about hope, I think … was passionate. I left there when it was over, and I knew that I had encountered God. And for me that was the cool part.

Even though I think that church in general needs to change, I think the important thing is when I leave church I have encountered God. And that is something that hasn’t happened in a long time. In Drayton all church was to me was empty ritual, I had lost all passion for the church and it’s people. I had become jaded, and cynical. I think now I am finally in a place where healing can fully come. I think now I am finally beginning to experience God’s most wonderful creation in a fresh new way.

An interseting idea

2007-09-13T14:11:00.000-06:00

So I was thinking about the story of the tower of Babel the other day. You might ask, what an odd thing to think about. The reason I was thinking about the story was because one of the assignments that Kathy has to do for one of her classes this semester. She was reading the old testament when she came across the story of the Town of Babel in Genesis 11. In case you don't remember it it goes something like this ...

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel —because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

So ponder this, do you think that when God confused humanity with different languages he aslo sealed in some of our potential?? Think about it, if people WAY back then had the technology to build massive towers and such with out any of the modern machinery that we have today, then why are unable do infinitely more then them? When you think about it the only thing that separates us then them is our towers to the heavens are taller and we are more lazy cause we have the equipment to do all the heavy labor for us. Also if you look at technology since the industrial revolution, not a whole lot has changed. Do you think that if God had not confused the languages at Babel that the we might be living in a world like we see and all the science fiction movies where cars fly, and people live on the moon and all that fun stuff. The way technology has sort of plateaued over the past hundred years to so just doesn't make sense to me.

So that's my thought to ponder for this blustery Thursday afternoon.

Until next time ...