Epic Journey month 2

Well just hours after writing my first Epic Journey blog to follow my progress of weight loss and fitness I got the worst stomach bug I have had in many years. It was the first time I have, for lack of better words, tossed the cookies in about 15 years that has not been self induced. Although having a 24hr stomach bug did result in loosing 6.5lbs over night but this is not the proper way to weight loss. I'd like to report that this only lasted 24hrs and I have regained that weight back quickly which is nice.

I must admit, I missed a few days at the gym and it really makes it hard to jump back in. During the second week of January (BTW my weeks start on the Monday), I was on work training on the other side of the city from Epic so I did skip a week due to this, though I keep working at home to make sure I done some sort of physical activity each day. This was also the week when I wrote the first Epic Journey blog as a motivational way to push myself to achieve this goal.

Now as I begin to write this blog post at the start of the third week, (I try to write my progress has it happens, daily/weekly, but post monthly) I will say it was so difficult to drag my ass out of the bed this morning. I like to do my workouts in the morning, it makes me feel refreshed and energized for the day ahead, so as I lay there this morning and hit snooze the first time and think to myself I'll just sleep in and go to the gym later knowing full well that would not happen. Knowing I would end up going to work, and at the end of the day I would be tired and head home, missing the gym again. So painfully I hauled myself out of the bed, drove across the city at 5am and hit the gym. And do you know what? It was a pain to convince myself to get up and go, but I felt awesome once I done it and I had a productive, energy filled day. So rule number 1, if I'm going to commit to something like going to the gym, I need to have the internal strength to push myself when no one else is available or awake for that matter to push me.

So it is now day two of week 3, this morning I woke up at 4 am I am not sure if I was wanting to go to the gym in my sub-conscious but I was up and ready to go. I also set a new way to wake in the morning and it seems to be going quite well with good results. You can read more about that here. This morning I done my core body routine. It was a great workout but each time I do the core body I find it hard during the routine but I lack feeling the pain later as I do with my other routines. Now I am not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing... guess I'll have to bring it up with someone else.

Week four started off not too good. I have once again come down with a bug of some kind and has removed all motivation and energy from my body. But on the good side it seems it has almost run its course. Also this week its the end of the month and I will be heading to Florida for a week vacation with the family and heres to hoping that the warm Florida sun can clean my system of the bugs that I came down with in January.

So my rule to live by or at least for the gym: Set a schedule: Set reminders and alarms for that schedule, for you will only disappoint yourself for breaking your schedule.

Next Month: Before and After pictures. Prepare to be scared.


Weight: 189.6 lbs - Down a full 10lbs since November :-)
Body Fat: 24.6% - Down 1.3% :-)

Idle No More? Why are we falling victim.

I will preface this blog post with the caveat that this is mine and only my point of view. I am entitled to this point of view. You may agree or disagree with what I have to say and you are free to leave comments. Also be aware that there may be some images in this post that may be disturbing.

Should I be questioning this?

Am I wrong in asking what Idle No More is? I have read and heard more about Idle No More in the last two months than I have heard about most any other topic and that would not be a bad thing if Idle No More was a genuine cause with a clear common focus with clear goals. But and I say this with a capital B that the movement has not had any of this in the two months. Further more the media continues to give these people the attention that even a mother of a two year old screaming for candy in the store knows better than to do.... Give in and answer to there beckon call to shut them up.

Now I may seem harsh and possibly be called racist and other terms since I am speaking out mainly about one group of people here but I can honestly say I don't take myself as falling into that category because I am speaking about a movement and not a people but please read all of this before you make judgement on me.

Idle No More seemed to have popped up out of no where back in December, though it was in full swing much prior to this. You see in December was when one person decided to be the star in this slap stick comedy that we now know as Idle No More. This star was none other than the Chief of the Attawapiskat  reserve Theresa Spence. Since Parliament was now convening for Christmas and there was going to be not much political news on the hill for a month Chief Spence decided to set up on an island a short canoe ride from Parliament Hill, perfect since the itchy typing fingers of the reporters would be near by. Chief Spence couldn't just sit there and wait for reporters because that's not news, she decided she was going on a hunger strike.

Now if you have ever heard of a hunger strike you will certainly know it can and is a dangerous thing you are essentially saying that you will die for this cause. Again problem one, what is the cause Idle No More is fighting for? We don't know, no one knows that has not be announced or relayed. Chief Spence is continuing to call her so called protest a hunger strike and the media continues to portray this term. I find this to be a slap in the face to all other people around the world who have taken on a hunger strike. A hunger strike is when you are on a water (H2O) only diet, with water only you will begin to wither away to nothing in about a week and death usually ensues within a few weeks. Chief Spence is not on a hunger strike she is on a liquid only diet, which I can assure you many other people are on now especially after Christmas and trying to loose a few lb's. With a liquid diet you are still receiving all of the essential nutrients that the body needs to survive and live. I may be 60 by the time Chief Spence would die for her cause on a liquid diet and it would not be from the diet but because of old age for her at that point. Below are few images some of Chief Spence over 4 weeks on her so called hunger strike and the other is of a young man after 7 days on a Tibetan hunger strike. As you can see these hunger strikes are not the same.

Week 2

Week 3

7 Days

Week 4

Now as you can see that is not much of a hunger strike that Chief Spence is on. But it is getting the attention of the media and some politicians. Chief Spence has demanded that she will not stop her hunger strike until she has a face to face with the Prime Minister and the Governor General. Prime Minister Stephen Harper has gone much further than I would have given this temper tantrum two year old, he has agreed to meet with the Chiefs of the First Nations including Chief Spence. This seemed to appease Chief Spence for a few days and she agreed to attend but not stop her "Hunger Strike" until after the meeting. Wow great we gave into the child, maybe we can continue our days without her name in the news for a day..... Wrong. She has since said she will not attend since the Governor General would not be there. 

More Chiefs acting as two year old's

Up to this point I was getting ticked off to turn on one of the daily three to four newscasts that I watch, CBC, CTV, SUN national news and CTV and CBC for the local news and time-shifting for the CBC Newfoundland news. As you can tell I am a news junkie so seeing day in day out Chief Spence acting like a two year old for not getting her own way to getting a meeting with the Prime Minister and Governor General for a cause the is non existent is really annoying. Finally and not to my approval the PM agreed to meet with the First Nations Chiefs, they seemed happy and all was well. Not so fast, the Manitoba First Nations Chiefs have decided to back Chief Spence and not attend the meetings unless the Governor General attends. So we now have a class of two year old crying for attention for that sweet candy treat. What does this show to anybody? Adults and children? The more you have a temper tantrum and the louder you scream the quicker you will get results.

The Governor General had no plans on attending these meetings, he has now just recently agreed to meet with the chiefs Friday night for a meeting and essentially giving into their demands.  Again setting a precedent on how to resolve issues in our society no matter how silly the demands.

Time for the people to speak out

Please take this with a grain of salt but this is a saying that I have heard many of times in many different situations, Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians. Now I know you are reading this and saying holy shit did he just write that, yes I certainly did and I do not mean it in a bad way. Right now many of the reserves are very closely knit with the same group (family) running the band council. This council much like any town council within this country is elected and different levels of government sends money which the council spends on the appropriate things. But here lays a major difference: The band council does not need to produce any financials or prove for an audit where and how the money is spent. This is a major problem, as where any normal city council across the country would be up on charges, locked up and booted off of council, within the bands the money is spent with no questions asked. And I am not speaking of small amounts of money here people. I am speaking of millions and millions to reserves that are as small as 300 people. Some of the chiefs are making 200 - 300 thousand dollars tax free for running a town of 300. Most small towns across the country get little to no money for being on the council or mayor, they do it for the love of their community.

Now where was I going with this heading? Ah yes, the people of these communities and I do not mean the band council, must and have to stand up to your council first and not the country. Your band council needs to answer for you how your money, the people's money, is getting spent with most of your residential peers suffering to survive. Because this country and all the people of this country cannot continue to send money to a black hole with no accounting has to where and how the money is spent, as that will not solve any issues even the non existent ones that the Idle No More cause is fighting for. All I ask is to please speak up to your leaders (Band Council) first, ask questions to where all of the money is going and has gone.

More to say, just no time

I do have much more to say but I don't have that much time to write more. Maybe I'll do a part two to this to outline some other items of concern but for now this will be all, you may like it or you may hate it, but like I said in the beginning, this is mine and only my point of view, feel free to express yours below.

Epic Fitness and my road to a better health (Epic Journey #1)

So I joined a gym, but before you laugh and think this is a new years resolution you'll be wrong. You see just because I am posting this in the first couple of weeks of 2013 don't mean I just started the gym as a new years resolution what it does mean is I am still lazy in posting blogs.

I joined a new smaller, privately owned gym near work called Epic Fitness near the middle of November. My main reason to joining was to get into a better shape other than round and to also continue my fight to lower my cholesterol. You see last spring prior to beginning running I was told I had high cholesterol and being the off-spring of two families where heart disease runs rapid, having high cholesterol is not a good thing. So I began running and started watching what I was eating much more to lower my cholesterol and it worked.

So now you ask where Epic Fitness has come from? During the summer I had a goal, to run in the Sears Great Canadian Run to End Kids Cancers in October, that is now over and I have reached my goal. I was now noticing myself doing nothing again because I had no goal and fall/winter months in Ottawa are quite cold to be running in.

So I decided to visit Epic Fitness and get an overview and have some questions answered for myself:

1. How large is the gym?
2. Are the trainers there to help you or just take your money?
3. How clean is the gym?
4. How much does it cost?

1: The gym square footage wise it not as large as some of the major gym brands out there, but they also have a limited membership so they are not trying to pack the place full just to get more money. They also do not have a lot of machines that do the workout for you, what you will see is a lot of weights to help you do any exercise you may want to do.

2: This is a difficult question to answer since all trainers and gyms will want your money, its how they make their living. But what I will say is that the gym owner has called me personally before when I missed a couple of weeks to see where I was. I take this as going the extra little bit to help motivate someone to get there ass back in the door. 

3: The gym is spotless is the best and easiest answer I can give for this. It is well maintained, well lit, free of obstacles, and the members seem to keep the place clean.

4: Epic Fitness has two different options for monthly memberships depending on what time of day you would need access. For full hours access it costs $45 a month and I think a time limited access is somewhere around $30. When/if you do first sign up you need to also purchase three training sessions with a trainer to get an understanding of the gym and equipment. This actually works out to four sessions and costs somewhere around $240 for the four sessions and the first month membership fees. Visit Epic Fitness for further information.

So after you have now read this I guess its safe to assume that yes I did sign up and was lucky enough to have the owner of the gym as my trainer, Neil Frotten who was also on the Red Bull Crashed Ice. I have done all of my training sessions with him so far and I have learned a lot. At the time I could not afford to keep Neil as a personal trainer but I hope to change this in the near future. In the meantime I have been using an Android app called JE-Fit to help keep track of my progress and stats. 

In case you are wondering, below are my stats that were recorded in November. I am already down to 193lbs so I have some progress. Once I receive my initial pictures from Neil, I will also post them.

Waist @ bellybutton: 40.5"

Hips: 45"
Right Quad: 25.5"

Chest: 43.75"

Right Arm no flex: 14"

Weight: 199.6lbs

Body Fat: 25.9%

I will be posting progress reports here monthly on how my progress is going at Epic Fitness with Neil.

Christmas and New Years 2012/2013

I seem to say it every time I post a new post here that I haven't done it in a while and I will try to write more, so here I am saying it again with a new post full of a lot of information.

So where do I begin, December was a busy month with the typical work/personal Christmas parties throughout the month, I was also able to score myself a new phone the much hyped and difficult to get, Google Nexus 4. I was able to get a order placed on Google through much F5ing to get the page to work properly. I think Google will need to get their act together the next time they decide to do a product launch. After waiting two weeks after the order was placed I received my shiny new +Google phone and I must say it rocks and it is quite speedy. I hope* to do a full review of this in the near future but in the mean time do a quick Google Search to find more information on it. 

Christmas & Traveling

Santa has arrived

This Christmas we decided to do a bit of traveling and a short trip to my sisters in Bowmanville. We left on Christmas Eve after leaving work at 11 and made the short trip of three hours. We spent two nights and one day there since we had to be back for work on the 27th. Christmas day was fun to spend time not only with my own family but with my sister, her boyfriend Ken and her kids (my niece and nephew), Hope and Ryan. Christmas is so much more fun where there are kids involved and now that Paige is stating to get to the age where she was having fun opening gifts and playing with all her new toys and did she ever get a lot of toys. As for Jodi and I we mainly got clothes but we also purchased a new Kitchen Aid Mixer, which is awesome.

Paige excited opening her gifts

Boxing day we arose early to hit the road back to Ottawa early. A storm was coming and we didn't want to get stuck or to be driving through it on the 401. We got on the road at about 10 am hoping to make a stop in Trenton and Sterling to visit friends and family. After making the first stop in Trenton and getting back on the 401 we decided to truck on through since the traffic was getting heavy. We made it back to Ottawa safe and sound at 3 pm.

New Years and Resolutions

Now its that time of year again, you know, day 365 the end of our calendar year, time to reflect on what we have all done in 2012 and what we would like to achieve and accomplish in 2013. Every so often at work we will watch a few different Ted Talks and a multitude to topics which are often very interesting and informative. The one below I watched in December and got me thinking about something that I do all too often, but that will change this year, take a look at the video, its only 3-4 minuets long and it may change your outlook on resolutions.


Oh and its also time to party and celebrate with friends and family to enjoy all we have and love around us. It is different this year for us, we have yet to make plans due to the lack of a babysitter and wanting to spend time with the family, so this year may be a quiet one where we will sit home order in some Chinese or Indian, and watch a few movies together.

Since I have been slow in actually finishing up this post, New Years has now passed and we managed to get out for a few hours and to see some friends, Paige was all dressed up for the occasion and here she is below ready to party.

New Years day was spent relaxing and taking down the Christmas decoration and preparing a Turkey with all the fixings and having a few friends over for a nice supper. After taking down the tree and seeing a neat idea on the internet, I have decided to start a new tradition for us. To cut a small 1 cm piece from the bottom of our tree each year and make an ornament for the tree the following year with the date burned into it. I'll post pictures in another blog when this is done.

QSSDJMRME