rickohikes

OMG! I’m Almost 30 and There’s a List!

It’s a true story. I’m almost 30. I’m by no means dreading turning this age- aren’t the 30’s the new 20’s like Pink is the new Black or something like that? I’m actually quite excited about what my 30’s will bring. I hope for as much adventure, self-discovery, and ups and downs as the last decade, and I’ll embrace and cherish whatever comes my way.

The reason for the mini-freak out is that I have a list of 30 things to do before 30, and I realize I need to get moving on it! I can use every excuse there is- it is eternally winter in Calgary… I got super busy with work… or I just got lazy with it. Either way, I have a renewed sense of focus. I do, however, fully acknowledge that I may not complete everything on the list in the next 3 months. The whole purpose of my list was to motivate me to keep living, learning and experiencing. Goal-setting and me work well together. I’ve had some great experiences lately, like hiking in the Grand Canyon in early April, and hiking up Prairie Mountain last weekend. I think these are pretty list-worthy.

And since I made the list, I think I’m allowed to change it. For example, I have now made the following update:

Go ~~Skiing~~ Snowshoeing in the Rockies

I wanted to go skiing just to do some kind of activity during the winter months. My feelings for winter are comparable to my feelings on high-fives or all things Charlie Sheen- I just don’t like. But since winter is a long season in Calgary, I figured I should do something. Though I do enjoy skiing, I’ve had a few skiing experiences where I felt I almost broke my legs. So I do have some fear and apprehension when it comes to skiing. Excuse? Maybe… because I think it’s sheer laziness that kept me from going to the mountains, and I know I’ll get back on the horse at some point. But then during an awesome Easter weekend away in Revelstoke BC with some great nerds, I was able to go snowshoeing. That’s definitely a winter activity. So I’ve now swapped skiing with snowshoeing. Just ’cause I can.

What else can I write about regarding my list? I will say it right now: I will fail to read The Kite Runner (#15). I just won’t do it. However, I am still working away on The Comfort Trap (remember, I’m all over the self-help books as revealed in a previous posting), and The Thief of Always, by Clive Barker. I remember reading this latter book in elementary school and decided to re-read it now as an adult. It’s scary stuff for a kid! According to the Miami Herald- “Menacing demons, wondrous miracles, sinister magic, and vivid characters… A compulsive, lightning-paced tale that almost begs to be read aloud.” Agreed Miami Herald. Agreed.

For #6, Buy Myself some Expensive Jeans, I just don’t think I’ll do this one right now. Maybe sometime down the road I’ll walk into Harry Rosen, throw down a wad of cash, and say “Dress Me!”, but at the moment, financially, I cannot justify this action. There are also many other things on which I could spend a wad of cash… you know, groceries and consumables. And lastly, it will not be possible to complete 5 rounds of P90X by the time I’m 30 (#22). The number of days left are just not there. I’m on the verge of completing Week 7 of Round 4 though. Just gotta keep bringing it! Damn you Tony Horton and your addictive exercise DVDs!

Overall, I’m content with the progress I’ve made on completing the List, but clearly it’s time to step it up!! Thirty is just around the corner….

Woe Is Me Sigh

Sigh, woe is me. Why, do you ask? Well, today I slept through two alarms and woke up at 9 am. I blame it on the previous day where I decided to do a full P90X Back and Biceps session in the morning and an 8 km run in the evening. Clearly my body was done. So much for getting an early start to the day. AND THEN, with all the hustle and bustle and franticness of trying to get out the door, I knocked over a glass of water with my plastic water bottle. Before I knew what was happening, it was on its way down from the counter to the floor. I know what you’re thinking- why would I have so much water on my counter? That’s a very good question. Needless to say, the glass was one of my staple Ikea glasses that sells for $0.79 :(. I’m now out $0.79 :(. Woe is me.

AND THEN, driving out of my heated parking lot, I saw snow. Flurries, actually sigh. And by the time I got to the office, this is what I saw. Yes, although it is officially spring, it is still winter here in Calgary. Woe is me, indeed :(.

I would now like to direct my own attention to this website: (http://whitewhine.com/). It’s called White Whine: A Collection of First World Problems. In the grand scheme of all things that can, do and may happen, it’s amazing how much we can whine about the most insignificant things rather than appreciate all of the going-ons for what they are. Shortly after the dramatics of the morning, I was talking with someone I know. In the month of April, a family member had an accident by slipping on some ice and fractured a leg in two places. Shortly after, her mother-in-law was diagnosed with cancer, and the cancer had spread. The prognosis is not good. And today, her mother found out she has cancer. Thankfully in this case, the prognosis is very good and whatever needs to be removed will be removed. It all got me thinking. Life is a beast with all its ups and downs, and yet it is amazing. It’s short, and yet there’s time to make it fulfilling. She is fortunate to have an amazing support system of family, friends and colleagues, and her and her family will endure and get through this in whatever way life intends. This is what’s important- loved ones and living the best life we can with the time that we have. My broken glass is just a broken glass.

The Holstee Manifesto

Double Rainbow of Awesome!

I would like to start this blog post by introducing you to Jen, one of my closest and dearest friends. Jen is made of 100% Pure Grade-A Awesome. We met in grade 6, Ms. McCann’s class (Jen: please correct me if I’m wrong. My mind is a little fuzzy in my old age :D). I have memories of both of us painting on glass windows with window paint, chatting lots on the phone about anything and everything, and for some reason, I have a vague recollection of us trading books. Which books? That’s a mystery to me. Did I even read books back then? Needless to say, a close friendship was formed. Although we don’t see each other nearly enough (it’s been several years, actually…), she remains one of my greatest friends :). My artistic pursuits stopped shortly after the window painting, but Jen went on to pursue her passion for art and earned her degree in Studio Art and Art History. She’s now a Fine Artist in Ottawa, and extremely talented!! You can find her website at http://www.jenkershaw.ca/.

So what does this have to do with the Double Rainbow of Awesome? First off, if you haven’t seen the fantastic YouTube video of the guy who becomes emotionally overwhelmed by the sight of a giant double rainbow, you must watch it. I’ve embedded the video at the end of this post. It’s no secret that I have a thing for rainbows and fireworks. But double rainbows?? Oh my God…

So anyway, yesterday was a good Wednesday. I finished a continuing education class on SQL Server 2008 that I was taking, the weather was sunny and moderate for a change, and all was peachy in Calgary. I picked up some dry cleaning, had some pants hemmed… generally, life was good. Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better, I returned home, opened up my mailbox, and found……. a mysterious package!

GAZOOKS!, I exclaimed. What could this be? Immediately I knew who had sent it. Obviously, it was Jen, since I just wrote all about her… but how did I know right away that it was Jen?? She had recently sent me a message wanting to confirm my address because she was updating her address book. I don’t think she was updating her address book. A clever ruse, she says. You win this round, Jen. You win this round. There’s nothing quite like getting a surprise in the mail that isn’t a flyer or a dreaded bill! So you know that scene from the movie Charlie and Chocolate Factory where Charlie runs all the way home after he finds the Golden Ticket?? Yeah, I didn’t do that, because I was already home and I was holding a bunch of dry cleaning; however, with Charlie’s gusto and enthusiasm, I walked up the stairs to my place, put my stuff down, and began unwrapping the mystery before me. What I opened can only be described as BRILLIANT, EPIC, and ABSOLUTELY AWESOME:

That’s correct, folks. A DOUBLE RAINBOW T-shirt!! Seriously, can it get any better than this??

Jen had mentioned that when she saw this T-shirt, she immediately thought of me and my affection for all things YouTube and meme-tastic. It’s true. I like YouTube. And I like memes.

So Jen: Thank you. This was incredibly thoughtful. I send you my love and a gigantic virtual hug the size of a giant double rainbow. I will wear this shirt with beaming double rainbow pride. You truly made my day. 🙂

Making Kona Coffee is Blog Worthy

Oh Sunday, how I love thee. Today is a rest/stretch day in Round 4 of the P90Xing, so I started the morning with StretchX, followed by making myself an eggs breakfast… because really, is there anything better than that on a Sunday? I suddenly felt like breaking free from my routine. Yes, I was feeling a bit adventurous. So what did I do? I decided to try something that had the potential to be an epic disaster: Make my own coffee… GASP! Now, I may be awesome at a lot of things, but for some reason, I can’t seem to make myself a good cup of coffee. I’m a huge Starbucks fan and their Pike Place coffee never disappoints. But my own cup of coffee never has the same caffeine drop-kick to the face the way I like it. Nevertheless, armed with my FÖRSTÅ coffee/tea maker, I was ready to go. A quick note: my coffee/tea maker was recently recalled by Ikea due to potential pressure from the metal holder causing the glass to break, but I haven’t taken mine back as yet… read about it here. In retrospect, perhaps the key to making a good pot of coffee is a good coffee maker, but golly, back off and get out of my face! It’s not like I’m rich or anything- so maybe one day I’ll splurge and get one. Sadly, for this humble analyst, today is not that day. Now onto the story! I’ve taken photos to document the process… and of course, to show off my photogeneticism (a real word?), which I’m taking to mean: the genetic predisposition to showcase my awesome photogenic ability and appear aesthetically pleasing in at least 95% of all photographs … and cue smile.

The coffee of choice comes from my recent trip to Hawaii: Ground 100% Kona Coffee, Gourmet Roast from the Mulvadi Corporation. Kona coffee was oh so good while I was there, and I miss it so. Naturally, I’d be able to brew my own to the standards it deserves. Yes, naturally. It has been a couple of months since that trip and I still had not opened the package. When I opened it, it smelled so good…

As the photo at the top of this posting shows, I had everything I needed. Apparently, in order to make coffee, you need hot water. So I boiled myself some (watching intently to make sure nothing went wrong… it’s a delicate science), and then I poured the boiling water into my FÖRSTÅ coffee/tea maker, which had about 2.5 spoonfuls of coffee. Oh yeah, I knew what I was doing.

And then I waited for a few minutes while I ate breakfast. I believe it was ‘brewing’… brewing a pot of awesome!

And THEN… I poured myself a cup of coffee. The anticipation was killing me- could this be the best home brewed coffee in the history of ever!? I was hopeful that it would be.

The verdict? I wouldn’t go as far as to say that my attempt was an epic fail of global proportions. The quality of the coffee is so good that making an undrinkable cup of coffee would be very difficult, even for someone as inept as me. But here’s a reenactment of the initial sip of my coffee…

But alas, I was being too harsh on my first cup. After the initial sip, I actually liked what I had created! And I’ve been drinking it the whole time I’ve written this post. It may not have been the best coffee ever in the history of ever, but I’d say I’m well on my way to becoming quite the coffee connoisseur! Don’t get me wrong, I’ll still be buying my Pike Place coffee, but now there’s a special place in my black heart for my home brewed variety.