Happy New Year

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Christmas season and I wish you all a very happy new year.

I've never been one for celebrating New Year's. I'm not sure why...I think it's because I'm not really sure what people are celebrating. It seems more a time to go and get drunk. I don't think that being wasted is a particularly good way to enter the new year. I think mostly is because I see the Spring as the new year. Oh I know that it's about the calendar but to me Spring is about new things. New leaves and flowers, things are turning green and colorful, animals are giving birth and coming out of hibernation, and there is new hope after the usual long and cold winter.

So has there been anyone who has been successful at completing their new year's resolutions? I like making the resolutions but I can't say that I have always accomplished the goals that I've set. So like every other year I am thinking about the things that I would like to work on in my life...the list seems longer than usual this year. This year I think I will be successful, I have new tools to use.

Crazy as this is I learned a lot about setting goals and achieving them while I was in Sri Lanka. It was part of the cirriculum of the Success and Ethics class that I taught. I was learning just as much as the students. So I thought that I would pass along a few pointers if you are deciding to set some new years goals for yourself.

The most important thing is to make goal statements. If you don't define your goals then you will get frustrated and discouraged. It helps to write the statements down. When you commit it to paper it's like a contract with yourself. To write a good goal statement you need to take it through 5 steps. The 5 steps are is the acronym S.M.A.R.T. (for those of you who have done your internship at CPC then you may remember this from Leadership and Administration class. it was covered there too.)

S - Specific. Your goal statement needs to be specific. It is very difficult to know what to do when your goal is vague.
M - Measurable. You need to be able to measure your goal in some way. How will you know whether or not you have achieved your goal otherwise?
A - Attractive. Do you desire to actually do this? Or is it something that others think that you should do?
R - Realistic. Is it a realistic goal? Too often we set our sites too high and we are not really able to achieve the goal that we have set.
T - Timable. You need to have a time limit by where you will have achieved your goal. If you don't set a time you can just keep postponing it.

So all you do is write down your goal and see if it fits all 5 of these steps. If it doesn't fit all of them change the statement until it does. .

So let's use this momentous time of year to make things happen. Happy resolution making.

Just imagine flushing it down the toilet while there's a bugle playing in the background

No I'm not talking about a fish...let me explain.

So I was sitting down on a dry rock to put my socks and boots back on when my......ahem...
...borrowed digital camera ...uhhhh... fell out of my pocket and landed in a little puddle just the right size to completely cover it in water. I was out on a walk with my sister and we had come to the shore. I thought it would be cool to have a picture of my feet in the Pacific Ocean. Man it was cool, literally! So after the pics I sat down and you know the rest of the story.

I am so sorry Jeff and Lisa. I will replace it for you I promise.

Unfortunately this means that I will no longer be able to post pictures on my blog:( That makes me very sad.

Not Usually So Political

Before you decide that you are not interested in politics therefore you will not read this blog I would like to tell you that this blog does not laud or bash any political party. It is merely an observation of what I think is missing in our leaders.

So I don't know about the rest of you but I'm sad that we are coming to another federal election already. I'm tired of minority governments. I'm tired of the mudslinging. I'm tired of the scandals and then the re-elections. I almost don't want to vote on Jan. 23rd because it seems futile and pointless.

When I was in Nanaimo I was watching a Speaker Corner segment on City TV. There was the usual drunk people, people with a pet project, etc. Sometimes people actually get on there and say something intellegent. I was only half listening until this young woman got on and started talking politics. She was pleading for the government to get some vision. I've been thinking about it ever since. I'm tired of governments that are elected because they have a platform that will clean up the current mess and solve the immediate problems. Now these things are entirely necessary but what about the future? Do any of the parties actually have long term goals for this nation? Can they think beyond the next election?

We're always told that to be a success we need to be able to see beyond the present and plan for the future, to know where we are heading. Maybe they should practise what they preach. Would any business hire a CEO to run their company if they didn't have vision? Can a true leader have followers if there isn't a vision that inspires and unifies them? Is there a reason to follow if you don't know where the leader is taking you?

I want a leader who is able to deal with the immediate issues but also steer Canada toward a brighter future. I'm an optimistic person and I think one day we will see that happen but hopefully this great country will not be run into the ground by people who can't see two feet beyond their own noses and who are more concerned with how they can further their career then their constituants.

MISSION SAND DOLLARS

The ADVENTURES of WEINER HEAD and GREEN GUMBO

Green Gumbo and Weiner Head check their equipment...
black maglite - check
green flashlight - check
grocery store bag - check
kleenex - check
hiking boots - check
The appointed hour arrives and they prepare to leave on their super stealthy secret sand dollar mission. It's a few minutes after 10pm when they arrive at Departure Bay's beach. No one is in sight as they quickly head down the stairs onto the rocky beach. The tide is receding and they are desperate to complete their mission because this is the one and only chance that they have.
At first they start the search for the coveted sand dollars together but soon realize that there is an ever increasing amount of beach to cover and that spliting up would be the prudent thing to do. Green Gumbo heads off down the coastline while Weiner Head collects some evidently pretty shells. The precious minutes pass and when they meet up again neither Weiner Head or Green Gumbo has been successful. Neither of them has even seen their quarry.
They surge ahead down the coastline until they are thwarted by a devilsh pile of boulders that are just too dangerous to climb, even for them. Disappointed by this impass they turn and head back to their vehicle but there is still a glimmer of hope for the tide has receded even more. Their spirits rise even more when they see ahead of them a large sandy area that the retreating waves have unveiled. They scour the ground with a renewed fervor. Green Gumbo squeals with delight and alas they have victory. They have found the coveted sand dollars.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

PS I am weiner head because I was wearing my weiner head toque and my sister was Green Gumbo cause she was wearing a green hoodie... she picked the name.

ha ha ha

How Do You Catch a Unique Rabbit?
Unique Up On It.

How Do You Catch a Tame Rabbit?
Tame Way, Unique Up On It.

How Do Crazy People Go Through The Forest?
They Take The Psycho Path

How Do You Get Holy Water?
You Boil The Hell Out Of It.

What Do Fish Say When They Hit a Concrete Wall?
Dam!

What Do Eskimos Get From Sitting On The Ice too Long?
Polaroids

What Do You Call a Boomerang That Doesn't work?
A Stick

What Do You Call Cheese That Isn't Yours?
Nacho Cheese.

What Do You Call Santa's Helpers?
Subordinate Clauses.

What Do You Call Four Bullfighters In Quicksand?
Quattro Sinko.

What Do You Get When You Cross a Snowman With a Vampire?
Frostbite.

What Lies At The Bottom Of The Ocean And Twitches?
A Nervous Wreck.

What's The Difference Between Roast Beef And Pea Soup?
Anyone Can Roast Beef.

Why Don't Blind People Like To Sky Dive?
Because It Scares The Dog.

What Is The Difference Between a Harley And aHoover?
The Location Of The Dirt Bag.

Why Did Pilgrims' Pants Always Fall Down?
Because They Wore Their Belt Buckle On Their Hat.

What's The Difference Between a Bad Golfer And a Bad Skydiver?
A Bad Golfer Goes, Whack, Dang! A Bad Skydiver Goes Dang! Whack.

How Are a TexasTornado And a Tennessee Divorce The Same?
Somebody's Gonna Lose A Trailer

In Nanaimo

So it's my 4th day in Nanaimo, BC. It's been a really fun trip so far...not that I don't expect the rest to be fun too. When I was in the Vancouver airport waiting in line to board the plane I saw this lady walking toward me and I realized that it was my cousin Kara-Lynn. She was coming to the island for the weekend to house hunt. That was cool. I hadn't seen her in 4 years.

So when Kay and I got back to the house there was a party happening. There was a couple of people that I knew but that was it. It wasn't tons of fun though cause my ears still hadn't popped and I couldn't hear much.

On Saturday Kay and I went to Coombs which is a small town about 20 minutes outside of Nanaimo. They have a market there that is really cool. It reminded me of Grandville Island except much smaller and much more hippyish.

There are a lot of hippies on the island. It's kind of weird. It's like a whole island of tree planter types. Not everyone is like that though. I saw a van that said "hippies suck". I thought it weird at the time but now I understand. When we went to Coombs I wore flipflops because it was so warm out and there is no snow. Apparently people thought this was strange. Kay said people kept looking at my feet. I didn't notice. I guess being in Sri Lanka has had some positive lasting effects, I don't even notice when people are looking.

Saturday night we went for dinner at a place called the Modern Cafe. It was really good. Kara-Lynn and Corey (her husband) met us for drinks there.

On Sunday Kay and I took the dogs for a walk out to these trails that are in the woods. It was really beautiful. Fortunately it is too cold for slugs right now:)

Well I guess I'll write more later...when more stuff happens

Super Buddies Rock

I had a great time in Winnipeg. I got to see the super buddies. The other super buddies that make up this dynamic trio are Laura and Sherri. I also visited with family that is super too. I stayed with Laura in her suedo-apartment.

I flew to Winnipeg on Thursday the 24th. No one was available to pick me up at the airport when I came in so I got to hang out until Laura got off work. It wasn't that bad though. I had lunch and coffe and then did a little shopping. I would like to tell you a funny story that happened while I was in the airport but it would cause me to reveal a gift that I purchased so I am unable to tell you at this time. You can blame Rebecca.

Laura had made me a super buddies travel mug. It was really cool. It has pictures of the three of us on it. We did a little shopping before we made it over to her place. We also stopped for a Starbucks. The only time that I go to Starbucks is when I am with Laura. I'm more of a Timmy's girl but I have learned that Starbucks is not evil and is not wickedly expensive...and it's good. We weren't just randomly shopping we were on a mission and because our mission was successful I can tell you what it was. We purchased Super Buddy shirts. We couldn't actually find anything that said "super buddy" so we just made it up as we went along. The closest thing that we could find was a superman logo. We had that put on the shirts with a nice sparkly B beside the superman logo. It rocks. We bought one for Sherri whom we were going to rendevous with on Saturday as well.
The rest of the night we hung out at home cause there was an awesome CSI night on...and we had some catching up to do.

Friday Laura worked so I hung out at the pseudo-apartment until she was off. We went to visit with my cousin Brendan. We had a hot chocolate with him and then Laura went to Youth but I stayed to visit with Brendan. I helped him install his brand new front loading washer. It was very nice. He also has two rabbits, fiesty and flopsy. They are totally adorable. For supper Brendan and I went out to a nice Chinese place called Dalat with his sister and family.

Saturday we met Sherri and Jeff at Polo Park and then we drove out to Morden to spend the day with Sherri. It was loads of fun. I hadn't seen her forever. When we had first met up with her she was talking about the Super Buddies and when we gave her the shirt she was so stoked.

Monday night I got to visit with my cousin Stacey and her family which was really nice. It was the first time that I got to meet her daughter Robyn. She's a real fireball. She is so full of energy. She a great kid.

We did other stuff but it's not really exciting or blogging worthy. I had a wonderful time in Winnipeg which is probably a good thing seeing as I am more than likely moving there:)