passion in poetry 1: the mountain bikers' duel

Twisting, turning, muscles burning.
Logs and ladders, ever learning.
Trees whisper secrets only known by elders.
An art form created by precission welders.
Over root and rock the tires bite.
Only fear holds you back, a constant fight.
Legs like pistons, your body the fuel.
Mind over matter, the mountain bikers' duel.
From blinding speed, a sudden halt.
An incline built by an ancient fault.
You press on empowered, you will not be defeated.
Around every corner, this struggle repeated.
Deep down inside, you harvest the power.
For soon you will conquer this granite tower.
A well deserved rest, you feel no pain.
An elixer of adrenaline courses your veins.
With great anticipation for the upcoming event,
you prepare your machine for a rapid descent.
Now hoots and hollers, no words are spoken,
as laws of physics are bent and broken.
Bars over axle, a relapse in time.
Dust yourself off, upon the saddle you climb.
No damage done, nothing hurt but your pride.
Cinch up your helmet, with courage we ride.
Through cedar and fir you dip and you dance.
You would flow on forever if given the chance.
But this ride must end as adventures gone past.
May every next ride be as good as the last.

episode 10: writers block?

Hello everyone! With the holidays near and lots of other projects on the go I sort of feel as though I have been neglecting the blog posts, not that I am bound to this or anything. I finally started running again, this time on the treadmill as the snow covered Northern Alberta ground has chased me indoors for exersize. At first I was sceptical as to my enjoyment level of stationary running, but I must admit I rather enjoy it. I have challenged myself to get below an eight minute mile by the new year which means I have to knock a full minute off my current pace. I am going to try for eight and a half by the end of this weekend, that gives a whole two weeks to knock off the remaining thirty seconds. I prefer my mountain bike this is for certain! A thirty minute hill climb on the bike is much easier than nine minutes of running. To be honest the hardest part of this whole idea is working up the motivation to do it, it's much easier to write blog posts.
I have been putting off writing about certain topics that are of my concern. I do not know the reasoning behind it, but you never know who might be reading your stuff so I suppose I am being cautious. Many of you know that I work in the mining/energy sector. There is obviously a tonne of controversy surrounding this field right now and I would not want to jeoprodize any of my relationships by saying the wrong thing, even if I see it as the right thing. My only hope is that we can all find a way for this industry to work while maintaining a strict adherance to environmental principles and practices. I will say that as a person in the field I see many good things happening as well as many improvments that need to be made. I am happy to say that I have never worked in a position where safety of the workforce has been prioritized as highly as it has in this one. The rest of it is up to us as a voting public to chose leaders that can maintain the best environmental and trading practices to ensure a healthy balance of ethical growth. There are plenty of ways to voice your opinion on some of the major issues surrounding this industry and I encourage everyone who cares about the future of this planet to become involved in some way.
Well then, with winter approaching and holidays near I wish everyone the best and I will most likely have a couple more posts before the new year, I had a bit of a mishap with my ceasar salad recipe last week, so I will try to get it up on Christmas Eve, that is when I am planning to make it next, this time I will add the oil slower so the mayo doesn't seperate. I also learned that baking is not my forte, but Corbin loved my cookies just the same. Kids will eat anything if there's enough sugar in it.

episode 9: Mike's Credo

Over the last couple of years I have been interested in Canadian literature. Wether it be fiction or non, new books or old classics doesn't really matter, as long as the author is Canadian it fits the bill. Out of a stroke of chance (delayed flight) I had some spare time at YQQ and was able to browse the book rack outside the gift shop. There, after looking at every book in the smallish assortment was an epic classic of which I have never heard of. This book was a fiftieth anniversary edition, written and wholly based around the newly named Salish Sea. The same waters which I have spent my whole life around, fishing, working, admiring and as I write this from 1500 km away, longing for. Lovingly and beautifully created by author Muriel Wylie (Capi) Blanchet it is a chronicle of the summers spent touring the South Coastal waters of British Columbia in their pleasure craft the Caprice. A widow and her five children. This book is a window into the past beauty of this rugged, unforgiving land and has re-kindled a fire inside me to explore all it has to offer. This is a small excerpt from the book "The Curve of Time".
Mike's own Credo, as he called it, was simple. He had printed it in pencil on a piece of cardboard, and had it hanging on his wall. He had probably copied it word for word from some book--because it expressed for him how he had learned to think and live. I put it down exactly as he had it.
"Look well of today--for it is the Life of Life. In its brief course lie all the variations and realities of your life--the bliss of growth, the glory of action, the splendor of beauty. For yesterday is but a dream, and To-morrow a vision. But To-day well lived makes every Yesterday a dream of happiness, and every To-morrow a vision of hope. For time is but a scene in the eternal drama. So, look well of today, and let that be your resolution as you awake each morning and salute the New Dawn. Each day is born by the recurring miracle of Dawn, and each night reveals the celestial harmony of the stars. Seek not death in error of your life, and pull not upon yourself destruction by the work of your hands."
So far I have only read maybe a third of this book, and as I read on I am sure to find a few more paragraphs which I may share on my blog. This is such a captivating read for me and I highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in Canadian culture and history. Mike's Credo really jumped out at me because this is also how I have learned to live my life, and am constantly learning more.

episode 8: all this stuff and no time to use it

It has been a terrific year for this guy. I recently celebrated a very important milestone in my life, one year of sobriety. This new way of life has brought to me several gifts which although I worked hard to earn, I never could have afforded living how I used to. My problem now is finding balance between work and play. I often find myself not leaving enough time for leisure activities. My poor mountain bike has been hanging on the wall collecting dust for the past two months. The good news is we have a wicked pile of firewood for next season and some landscape projects are under way thanks to the Kubota, but with all the rain I have to be careful not to get it burried in the mud, already had to winch it out once. The 5th wheel is tarped up for the winter. We have alot of ideas for the house, but I am getting tired of setting up shop in the basement and having my tools spread out everywhere only breeds frustration. I guess my next project should be a dedicated workshop. Once I can get that done, all the other little jobs like trim and tiling will be much easier to handle. My point is, if I can somehow streamline my work tasks, maybe I will have a little more time for that bike. I guess this is turning out to be a rambler. I don't have a ton of time before Christmas is here to get much work done around the house, so I am focussing on some maintainance projects and getting rid of some junk. Right now all a guy can do is take it day by day. You will never get back the time you waste worrying about all the time you wasted.

recipe 1: lasagna, part two

Once again, a malfunction in the tech department has me all messed up so, please read part one first...carrying on now with the cheese filling. Also add some more garlic to this, one or two crushed cloves, salt and pepper of course, mix it all up, toss in the fridge and move on to the cheese topping. For this I use a mixture of mostly mozzarella, then marble cheddar and finally parmesean, add to the cheese some more garlic, salt and pepper and some whole fresh basil leaves. Now we can build our masterpiece. I preffer to use the ready to use type of noodle, but feel free to use whatever. In a Large casserole alternate meat sauce, noodle, cheese filling, etc until you run out of building material. Top it all with off the cheese topping and place in the oven @ 400f for about 45 minutes, cooking times will vary depending on your appliance. Keep an eye on it, it is done when the cheese is nice and golden. I usually place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack to catch any spill over. Once it is cooked remove from oven and let rest for ten minutes, this will help it set up a bit. I like to serve this with a fresh loaf of french bread and some seasoned butter. I hope you enjoy this variation of a classic dish that has so many faces. Try the recipe and let me know how it turned out. Stay tuned for a secret ceasar salad recipe, I just need to go home and make it so I can give some semi accurate measures as it can be a tricky one!

recipe 1: lasagna, part one.

Working away from home has taken me from my favourite household chore, cooking. To some, it truly is a task which they despise of or fear. I suppose my fondness of preparing food began at a young age, often watching chefs on television with my parents. We always had fun when the power was out in the winter and we were forced to cook on the wood stove. I was lucky to be raised by two good cooks. In my teenage years I spent much of my time working in various restaurants in the Comox Valley, including two years at the Kingfisher Inn. It was at the Kingfisher where I learned most of the cooking skills that I use today. For those without restuarant experience in can understand how cooking can be intimidating, and I would strongly recommend any young person to take a job in a kitchen. If you can survive working in a commercial kitchen, you will excel in any field that you chose. The experience gave me a great respect for those that prepare our meals. It is fast paced, hot, dirty work and it doesn't pay well. All this being said, most of my favourite meals are those prepared at home. Even with the skill and knowledge to prepare some pretty uptown dishes, I always find myself resorting to the foods that not only nourish your body, but also warm your heart. On a blustery west coast day nothing makes me feel better than the aroma of cheese, garlic and tomatoes permeating the farthest reaches of the house. The bubbling layers releasing a preview of the strata of flavour held beneath its golden crust. There are many variations of this wonderful dish, the one that is most often prepared in my kitchen is of the meat sauce family. This is not my mothers recipe, to be honest I rarely follow any recipe, using my imagination and ingredients on hand as a rule. I usually start off by frying one sliced yellow onion in a mix of olive oil and butter until golden. Once the onion is cooked, I remove it from the pan and brown the meat. To the meat is added half a bulb of garlic, crushed, freshly cracked black pepper, one small shredded carrot, one chopped celery stick, with the leaves preferably, oregano, thyme and basil, all dried, one large can of crushed tomatoes, one small can of tomato paste, re add the onions, a bay leaf and add a good half teaspoon of anchovy paste. Let all this bubble away on low to medium heat while you prep the cheese filling. For the cheese filling I use one large container of cottage cheese, half a cup of fresh parmesean, one package of frozen spinach, half a cup of fresh basil, thinly sliced, one sauted chalotte

episode 7: remembrance

Thank you to all members of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian Army and Canadian Navy.and their families. I am eternally greatfull for the pride and dedication that you put into your work every day. Lest we forget the fallen, you are forever in our hearts. Your service to this great land will be forever remembered.

episode 6: ruts

Greetings y'all! I would like to thank all of you for participating in Eyes Wide Open, as the page recently surpassed 100 views! Seventy-three of which were myself but hey, a milestone is a milestone no matter how it is achieved. This week I put a call out for topics of discussion. Epic fail comes to mind. So instead of writing anything substantial or even mildly entertaining I will continue on with something off the bottom of my boot. You ever feel like you are stuck in a rut? Ya, me too. It kinda sucks your motivation eh? The worst part is you think about it constantly, like a black cloud over your head. People can tell to, which doesn't help much unless of course they are also in a rut at the same time and you have something in common to moan and whine about. I think it is important to share your problems with people in like situations as yourself. You will often be surprised at how some common ground will help you to start climbing out of the hole that you have dug. First of all you must realize that you have put yourself in the situation. Blame stops right there. I also find that some physical excersize works wonders, something about the endorphins that are released helps you wake up and see your problems in a different light. How do you release you woes? Well, for those of you who go to church, you know this answer. For the rest of us this is where it can get tricky. Many of us have grown up outside of religion. We have been taught scientificly, but not spiritually. We may lack a belief in god or even some force beyond our imagination, an unseen creator that cannot be explained merely on scientific terms alone. Some of us might even think that we are god, able to control things and beings, morphing
them into our view of what the world, and our lives should be. When things do not work out as we
planned, we begin to dig ourselfs back down into the rut. A downward spiral that can take a person the wrong way in a hurry. It is imperative, in my opinion, that as human beings we have a strong spiritual belief as well as a good education. Spirituallity teaches you humility. Humility helps you let go. It is not easy, it works. So, next time I feel a little bummed out or unmotivated I can shake those feelings by going on a hike to my favourite spot, or taking the kids to the park, or settling down to a good movie on a cold winters' night, but before I do I will give thanks

episode 5: unexpected adventure

This past Saturday we took a trip down to Victoria to visit my grandparents and take the kids to the forestry discovery museum in Duncan. The ride down Island was pretty much normal and the weater was decent for a late October day. We stopped at Matticks' Farm Market in Cordova Bay for a small lunch before moving on to Fred and Netties' house for a well overdue visit. My grandfather is suffering the affects of an ailing heart and is not very mobile anymore. It is hard to believe that only 5 years ago, at 85 years old he was still curling, golfing and doing much of the yard work around the house. To see him bed ridden was strange. We had a great chat. He is a grand inspiration in my life as well as many others who are close to him. My grandmother was in good spirits as always, and was very interested in Hailey and Corbins' activities and schooling. It just goes to show what a strong faith, wholesome food and healthy active lifestyle can do for you. I think we will try to make the trip a few more times this year as we try to keep the visits short to allow Fred to rest. A couple hours flew by and it was time for us to head towards home, so we jumped in the Honda and made way for Hwy 1. The forestry museum in Duncan was having a spooky train ride for kids, Hailey and Corbin were excited and I was glad to take them there. I visited the museum a few times when I was a kid and always loved the train. Little did we know there was an unexpected adventure in our near future. We approached the Trans Can and all seemed normal, that is until we got to the Hwy 14 overpass to find Hwy 1 closed. Now what? Thanks to the wonders of modern technology we were able to find out that the Malahat was closed due to an accident and would likely not re open until 9:30pm. The only available detour at the time was to take Hwy 14 to Sooke then carry on to Port Renfrew, then take Hwy 18 to Lake Cowichan and then to Nanaimo. To those of you who are unfamiliar with the geography of the Island this is quite the detour. It was a dark night. I had never taken this route before. We were reasonably ill prepared for an extra three hours of travel. With help from the GPS we found our way to the pacific marine highway. To call this trail a highway is rather misleading. Blind corners, rough patchwork and more single lane bridges then I have ever seen. I tried to maintain a balance between safe, defensive driving and making up time. I also tried not to become angry at the people who thru a wrench into our plans. The kids were understandibly dissapointed. We finally made it back to Hwy 1 and stopped for a bit of energy at DQ. We were safe and we were together. We made it home some time around midnight. Nikki's mom came down and fed the horses and dogs for us earlier that night, which was awesome. I took the dogs for a quick walk before hitting the sack, exhausted. This morning I found out that a motorcyclist was fatally injured in the accident. Early in our trip I had explained uto the kids that someones dad or son was probably not coming home that night and we were fortunate to be together safe even if our plans were ruined. Those words really sunk in for me today. When we are behind the wheel we carry a huge responsibility. Drive safe out there folks!

episode 4: in the news-more images of death

I usually do not pay to much attention to world events because they are completly beyond my control, (as all things in life) and to be honest, couldn't really be bothered by it. This same attitude also applies to celebrity gossip, do we really need or care who is dating who or whatever? One topic that has kind of sparked my interest is the portrayal of real life violence and suffering by todays media and the effect it has on our children. As the world becomes more electronicly linked the old boundries of what used to be acceptable as decent news are falling. Recently, video and graffic photography of two world leaders executions were made public minutes after their deaths. I have chosen not to view footage of either, however did see some images of Saddam Husien on a tv that was on in the camp rec hall. My question is, do our children truly understand the difference between real violence and torture, and Hollywood violence. With the way North American media works even us adults have become desensitized to brutality. Look at the huge popularity in MMA for instance. They warn us that violent video games can be bad for our kids, so they put a warning label on the box. That's like putting a label on a big mac that says "warning, eating this will make you unhealthy". Let's be honest, most people do not heed to labels, speed limits, or other warning signs that are designed to protect themselves and others. We also need to understand that in todays society the childs parents are not always able to limit their own childrens intake of violent video games and other types of 'entertainment', with both parents working full time jobs to make ends meat, kids are often left alone or with a babysitter that may not have the same authority in the childs mind to say what they can participate in or view. So, how do we teach our kids to comprehend real suffering? Is it important anymore given todays availability to real.time war footage and images of death online? Have we passed the point of no return, or has this same availability of real violence helped to better educate us and made it easier to empathize with those who are truly affected by war and prosecution? Either way this is a subject that all parents need to think about and talk about with their kids, teachers and daycare. I would like to thank CBC radio for inspiring me to write this post. Please comment if you have any ideas on this subject!

episode 3: snow? already?

This morning when I checked the weather forecast for Fort McMurray I was abruptly reminded why I chose to work here and fly back to Vancouver Island on my days off. Snow. Just a dusting, but it isn't even halloween yet. The low temps here will not be above freezing until sometime next march or possibly april. The trade off is you get alot more sunny days than not. Biterly cold sunny days. So it's time to bundle up for this coasty, for a few days anyway until I return to my homeland in paradise.

episode 2: why the 90's?

Once again I find myself stuck in the 90'S. Something about the music of the time that renders me unable to expand my library to anything new. I recently purchased the 20th anniversry edition of Nevermind, the Black album and Badmotorfinger. The price of a CD is much lower than what they used to be! Most of the video I watch on Youtube is concert footage or videos from bands that were popular back then. Today I downloaded most of the Temple of the Dog album from Gtunes for free, that was a great find as it is one of the best of the era. Once and a while I will listen to the radio, alot of the new mainstream stuff sounds like Nickleback and many of the lyrics are about getting loaded and are egotistical, actually that lyric issue seems to cover the whole spectrum from pop to country, dance and rap. I am glad to see bands like Pearl Jam are still writing songs with some lyrical meaning instead of mindless crap meant to please the masses. It's funny because I am finally starting to realize that my youth has passed me by. Don't get me wrong, I still have alot of time on the clock and probably feel better mentally and physically than ever before. The thing is as we age we have to work alot harder at maintaining our body and soul. This is where we get back to the music. The song of my youth is always playing inside my mind, this is what keeps my soul young. The music motivates me to push myself when I excersize. So maybe I am stuck in the 90's. That's alright with me. What's that smell? Teen Spirit.

episode 1: the brotherhood of the rambling rants

As I find myself trying to prepare for another set of nightshifts I have many hours to contemplate. You see, I must stay awake as long as possible, then sleep throughout the day tomorrow. I truly hope a good idea comes to mind, otherwise this could just be me typing out words that only make sense because they are in sentences. Now, let's get on with the topic. The reason why I began writing this blog is fairly simple, I believe that has been covered in my introductory post. I find that many times I end up writing long posts on facebook but still feel like some things have been left out, this is where the blog comes in. What better spot to go on a rambling rant than on your own blog! This way I don't have to clog up someones' i-phone screen with a bunch of b.s. that could have been thought up in some 4 a.m. epiphany. Any epiphanies of great importance can now be posted here, documented for safe keeping. Speaking of which, I thought of this one the other day on my evening run. There are two things in life that you can't run away from, ugly is one, and God is the other. You may as well embrace both of them because it makes life a heck of alot easier when you have confidence in yourself and God on your side. I don't care if you believe in Jesus Christ or Buddha or the forest or ocean, all of us were put here to co-exist with eachother and the rest of the planet's creatures. Once you become in touch with your spirituality you begin to see life in a new light. You realize the world does not revolve around yourself, but you are merely a link in the chain. You realize that regardless of attractiveness, brain power, physical strength or material wealth, we as humans are all created equal. Some are specialized in certain areas, we all have potential to learn and to teach. I now live my life with my eyes wide open.

New Blog!

This could be out of complete boredom, or it could be the next awesome internet thing mixed with a touch of epic fail. Whatever it is, my intent is not to say "look at me, look at me", rather just a way to spark discussion on all things relavent and somethings irrelavent to life as we know it. The world is a crazy place these days and this is a great spot to share some ideas on how to cope with the stresses, trials and tribulations which affect us day in and day out, feel free to comment, all I ask is be courteous to others and think a little before you type. I know we all lead busy lives so I will try my best to keep the stories to the point. I will also ramble, sometimes to no end. Oh well. Thanks for checking this out, have a great day/night! Now, time to contemplate my first story/topic.