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.