Inspiration – Page 3 – HIKES & HAMSTRINGS

The Year of… 2014

Each year I spend some time over the holidays to think about the upcoming year. I tend not to think about resolutions, which in my mind, have a connotation of success or inevitable failure. Instead, I like to outline my focus for the coming year. Think of it as a vision statement that guides my goals. It’s important to jot these things down because ideas swirling in my head result in little action. Writing down my areas of focus act as a roadmap for the journey throughout the year.

Throughout the ups and downs related to my job, my mind would wander to three main topics:

1) Travel
2) Health and Fitness
3) Financial Freedom

And a fourth topic came to light over the past couple of months:

4) Managing my digital life

Travel

It’s no secret that I love to travel and experience new places, cultures, and all of the emotions that come with those adventures. I spent most of November reading the travel blogs of inspirational people who had left their growing careers for a nomadic lifestyle. Oftentimes we tell ourselves that there’s never enough money or time to travel. This is clearly false; if so many others can change their lifestyle to one of travel, then why can’t I? These people aren’t rich; they’ve just shifted priorities. These people don’t spend a fortune; they just adopt strategies for near-free flights and elite status upgrades. These people aren’t unique in thinking about an unconventional life; they’ve just decided to take action. And I’m jumping on that bandwagon: Travel Hacking. Couch Surfing. House Sitting. Remote Living. Discount travel of any kind. It’s all in the realm of possibility. I’m not saying I want to be completely nomadic and go off the grid, but I do want to travel more. That’s what it comes down to. And I’ll figure out how. Of course, I also have a list of places I would love to visit, but more on that in a subsequent blog post.

Health and Fitness

Admittedly, choosing to be as healthy as I can be and adapting my schedule to include fitness is a lifestyle, not a fad. So this focus is nothing new, but I write it down every year. I have been plagued with several injuries. My ankle hurts; I have tendonitis in my right elbow; curses to the chronic neck and back pain; and the entire right side of my body from the waist down feels like it requires some major physiotherapy. All excuses though! I’ll be taking control of these health issues in the New Year. A costly endeavour, but health comes first. Nutrition will also be a priority again this year after a miserable attempt last year. At the very least, I should try some new recipes. And then there’s my workout routine. I plan to complete P90X3, organize fitness challenges, and begin running again. It’s time to conquer some more races and inch my way toward that triathlon. Hiking will be a predominant activity as always.

Financial Freedom (well… sort of.)

No, I don’t want to retire… yet. But I will be exploring ways to add value to my current skills through workshops and certificates while I expand into contract work. This involves learning about small business ownership and how I can offer my statistical and data analysis services remotely. I also plan to look into the process of becoming a Beachbody coach and what all of that entails. Financial freedom is definitely a work in progress, but it’s on my radar this year.

Managing My Digital Life

This will be ongoing, but I’m so bogged down with different emails, software that I don’t use to its potential, gigabytes of photos that are spiralling out of organizational control, and an online presence that requires full-time hours to manage. There has to be a way to make things easier. There just has to be.

And those are the 4 areas of focus. Everything sounds fine and good, but how do I translate these points into actionable goals? I use the SMART acronym, of course. SMART goals are ones that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time Oriented. I’ll be creating my SMART goals within the next few days.

So what will 2014 bring?

A lot of excitement! I know there will be many great experiences and changes as always. It will be busy, but I’ve come to realize I’m at my best when I’m busy. However the year unfolds, I know it will be a good and overall positive 2014.

Run for the Cure 2013

It’s been several years since I’ve done the Run for the Cure. Actually, I believe the last time I did the run was before I left Ontario to head west! So it was great to be able to participate in the CIBC 5K Run for the Cure with my family this year. Ry decided to sign us up for the picturesque Mississauga location, which included a start at the UofT Mississauga campus. Despite the rain and gloomy clouds, the vibe was really positive and energetic. After all, this is a run to end breast cancer. So many supporters and participants came out for their sisters, daughters, mothers, grandmothers, friends, and colleagues. It’s also inspiring to see survivors and those tackling breast cancer each day. This year, over $27 million was raised nationally for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation- wow. It was also great to spend time with my brothers and mum. With me being in Calgary, quality face-to-face time is few and too far between…

www.Farm-To-Fork.ca

I flew home on Wednesday night for a short visit with the family, but first up on the agenda- attending Dan and Danny’s launch party for their Farm-To-Fork website. Dan has been working on an amazing project for about a year, and the amount of progress the Farm-To-Fork team has made is nothing short of crazy awesome.

So what has Farm-To-Fork been all about? I can’t say it any better than Dan and Danny themselves, which is why I’ve copied the following from http://farmtoforkguelph.wordpress.com/history:

Do all of the problems we face require huge investments and extensive bureaucracy to solve them? Or, can a different way of thinking and some data create small (but scalable) solutions? Can we make a difference, not by solving massive problems, but by creating one positive outcome at a time? These are the questions that Dan Gillis¹ and Danny Williamson² asked early in 2012. Searching for a community problem to tackle, they took several supportive, but unsuccessful meetings.

A friendly suggestion pointed them towards the Institute for Community Engaged Scholarship at the University of Guelph (U of G). Without delay, Linda Hawkins³and her team connected them with the Guelph Wellington Food Access Working Group (FAWG). The Farm To Fork (F2F) team learned an important lesson from FAWG: the quantity of food available at food banks and food pantries will always be a challenge, but these agencies face another pressing concern. Often, those most in need of food support are subject to the poorest quality food: fewer fresh vegetables, fruits and meats; and more white breads and pastas. The challenge? How do we make sure our neighbours in need have access to the right kind of food to help get them back on their feet?

The F2F solution? Instead of being reliant on blind donations from donors, why not let food banks and food pantries tell donors what they need on a weekly basis and then let donors tell them what they will provide? Working with students from the University of Guelph, the F2F team created two prototypes of a web interface that will connect farmers, backyard gardeners, and citizens to food pantries and food banks in their area. This winter, Dan, Danny, and U of G students are preparing a final prototype for spring beta testing.

¹ Assistant Professor, School of Computer Science, U of G. ² Consultant, Williamson Consulting. ³ Director, Institute For Community Engaged Scholarship, U of G.

In a nutshell, they have taken a step in making sure those in need have access to fresh and quality food by connecting food banks and food pantries with local donors. Lots of people attended and there was so much enthusiasm for the project. Throughout the year, they’ve had interest from groups in Germany, Kentucky, and Australia. Amazing! Congratulations to Dan and Danny, their team of students, and all of the community partners who helped make the www.farm-to-fork.ca launch an absolute success!

Sunrise Over the Rockies

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned to Shari: would you be up for a morning hike to see the sunrise? Of course, being the awesome person she is, she said “yes”. So we decided to get a few people together for a Sunrise Hike over the Alberta Prairies. It would be an early morning hike where we would leave the city around 4:30 am and head out to the mountains, climb to a vantage point, and enjoy breakfast and hot tea and coffee while watching the sunrise in the horizon. It sounded wonderful!

So on Saturday morning, Robbie, Tushna, Shari and I headed out to Mount Yamnuska with the intention of hiking to the east ridge. There’s a lovely spot there to set up shop and watch the sunrise. As we pulled into the parking lot we realized how dark it was. Super dark. We strapped on our hiking bags, layered warm clothing, and switched on our headlamps. We were off!

Things would not go as planned. Within 5 minutes, Robbie stopped and flashed a light: “Did you see that??” He had seen two eyes, staring at him. We didn’t want to jump to conclusions at that point, so we cautiously proceeded. Then another few minutes later, he proclaimed: “Over there! Do you see it?” And lo’ and behold, something was watching us- this was clear. Not only was it watching us, it was silent and following us. As we walked along the trail, it had walked in parallel. Then we all heard the rustling. There was most definitely something moving over there… and it wasn’t that far away. The sounds weren’t loud enough to be a bear walking through the forest, so we think it was a cougar… and that’s not an animal we wanted to go up against!

That was that- we high-tailed it out of there, looking back cautiously. Of course, we were choked that the hike did not go as planned, but we were thrilled that we left unscathed! That is the most important thing. Safety first.

But this certainly did not deter us from watching the sunrise. We had lots of goodies- bagels, cream cheese, muffins, coffee, tea, and strawberries. We headed to Canmore and drove up the Spray Lakes road and stopped near the top of the Grassi Lakes trail. We ate, chatted, and then bundled up just in time to watch the sunrise over the mountains, casting a wonderful orange and purple colour on the clouds. The surrounding mountains were all dusted with a fresh snowfall, which made the scenery pretty amazing. I reminded myself that I feel so lucky and blessed to have such great people in my life and to live in a place where I can experience a sunrise over the Canadian Rockies, whenever I choose to. It was a pretty incredible morning :).

# YYCFLOOD 2013: Calgary Comes Together

High water levels under the 14th Street bridge

Earlier today I was perusing this and that at MEC when a friend texted me: “Are you affected by the flooding?” This was the first time I had heard about a flood, but it certainly would not be the last. I took to Twitter and had no idea that parts of Calgary were being evacuated due to rising water levels near the Elbow River. Six communities to start, including Mission. I called a few friends right away who lived in Mission. They also didn’t know. It turns out they would have to gather some things from home and get ready to leave their apartment for 72 hours.

In the many hours to come, I would learn much more about this impending disaster. At first, I wondered how serious it could really be. But then I learned that the situation was definitely more dire. A state of emergency was declared for many areas. Areas like High River, Black Diamond, and Bragg Creek had been hit quite hard, with ridiculous amounts of flooding and loss of homes. Cougar Creek in Canmore had dangerously high levels and destroyed homes as well. The TransCanada Highway was closed both east and west of Banff and residents and visitors of Banff were told they should stay put. The highway collapsed outside of Canmore. Videos and photos of those areas show quite a bit of damage, and it’s difficult to believe that rain and melting snow could do this in Alberta. The water levels continued to rise in Calgary. One by one, communities were ordered to evacuate.

After what seemed like hours of watching videos and reading Twitter feeds, I decided to go take a look myself. I headed down to Edworthy Park to take photos of the Bow River. I was not the only one. People were parking and getting out of their cars to look at the super high water levels. It’s very odd to see; on a normal day, there are mini islands in the Bow River and the banks of the river are quite high. Today, they were all non-existent and completely flooded. I then headed to a vantage point overlooking Bowness, which was being evacuated. I scoured the city for other views: the stairs above Sunnyside; the 14th street overpass; and eventually, Memorial Drive and 10th street in Kensington. This is where I saw the craziest flooding of the night. The water had risen over the banks and were spilling onto the paths. Crazy! Apparently the water levels will be up to 3 times as much as the flood in 2005 when all is said and done. Though I wasn’t here in 2005, it sounds like it was bad.

I now find myself at 3 am refreshing Twitter and continuing to read what many Calgarians are saying and showing about this flood. There have been many photos from Bowness, Mission, Memorial Drive, Discovery Ridge, and many other locations. As of now, 25 communities have been evacuated. Travel to the downtown has been discouraged. Transit has been disrupted. Bridges have been closed. The rain is expected to continue.

What I have found absolutely incredible about this situation is not the sheer force of the water, or how quickly the floods are rising, or how much rain continues to fall. I have been amazed by and proud of the people of Calgary. There has been an outpouring of support about how to help with clean-up efforts; Calgary Police (@CalgaryPolice) and the City of Calgary (@cityofcalgary), whose efforts throughout the day and night have been ridiculously impressive, have had to turn away volunteers because there have been just too many offerings; and the community has offered up their homes through kijiji or #yychelps on Twitter to anyone who needs a place to stay for the next few nights. Mayor Nenshi (@nenshi) cut his trip to Toronto, flew back, and an hour ago (2 am) he was touring around the flooded areas of Calgary with John Mar (@aldjohnmar) and Richard Pootmans (@pootmans). At this moment, I believe they’re investigating the dam at Glenmore. All of the folks involved have worked tirelessly to keep Calgarians informed and up to date. Information has travelled at light speed and Calgarians have evacuated safely as a result. The mayor and his staff have been amazing, and I have been so impressed with and thankful for their efforts and work. The generosity of Calgarians has been outstanding and incredibly moving to say the least. It’ll be interesting to see what I wake up to tomorrow. But today, I’ve realized once again how much I love this city.