Archive | July, 2012

Rewind Button- Thriller, Michael Jackson

31 Jul

I was surprised to see Michael Jackson on the list because I thought this list focused on top rock albums and Thriller is very pop. But I am not complaining- I LOVE Thriller!! My mom had this on vinyl and she used to play it while my siblings and  Isang and danced along. She also used to rent the VHS of the Thriller music video we watched it over and over trying to memorize the dance moves.

Apparently Thriller broke down racial barriers. From what I have read, before Thriller many felt Jackson had struggled to get MTV airing because he was black and this album broke down those barriers.

I loved this album from beginning to end. Not only does it bring back memories, I still have the urge to get up and dance to these songs.

My little brother Ben in middle school dancing to Thriller:

See What Other Bloggers Thought

MusicQwest

Be a River With Me

Pimplomat

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My First Giveaway!!! Wenger by Eco Bottle

30 Jul

Okay, I now feel as though my blogging has become something because I was offered a chance to try out a product and give one away!

Here’s the deal, you need to click on this link and check out Wenger by Eco Bottle then leave a comment on this blog telling me where you can purchase these water bottles and where you would use one if you won it. Would you use it at work? School? Hiking? Biking? On August 16 I’ll do a random draw and announce the winner!

Wenger by Eco Bottle is designed in Switzerland so that should say it all. They know what their doing when it comes to design and functionality in Switzerland.  I used to represent Light My Fire Canada and those awesome outdoor products were also made in Switzerland.  I’m guessing they are very outdoorsy out in Switzerland because they make great outdoor products.

I loved having a decent water bottle NOT from the dollar store! Ha ha

So what makes this bottle different than my dollar store bottles?

  • Patented Triple Lock System that tightly seals the bottle with a mere half turn (You mean no more wet backpacks? Say what!?)
  • BPA and Phtalate Free
  • Swiss Made BPA Free Liner
  • Wide Mouth Opening accommodates ice cubes, pieces of fruits and powder mixes. (I really liked this because I could chug my water way better)

This could be yours!

So if you want a chance to have one of these babies click on this link and check out Wenger by Eco Bottle, leave a comment on this blog telling me where you can purchase these water bottles and where you would use one of you won it. Check back on August 16 when I’ll announce the winner!

My little brother Ben drinking from my Wenger by Eco Bottle

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3/3 One Short Day in Waterton- Red Rock Canyon

29 Jul

After hiking Bear’s Hump, canoeing on Cameron Lake and a pit stop at Pearl’s for a wrap we headed to Red Rock Canyon. I told you we had a lot to fit into one day! My mum and my stepdad walked along the paved trail that goes around it and watched Ben and I walk through the canyon, playing like little kids in the water.

Lots of natural little water slides in the canyon. I didn’t actually slide, the water was so cold!

This is the spot where my sister thought she was going to drown last time I brought her up. Ha ha ha ha! The water goes to your waist!

Someone placed a log so we didn’t have to wade through the freezing water

Didn’t know if it was going to hold his weight

Wading through the water

The end of the canyon

Looking up the canyon to the observation bridge

Another natural water slide

Ben slid down this. Video clip below

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2/3 One Short Day in Waterton- Cameron Lake

28 Jul

After hiking Bear’s Hump it was a straight shot up to Cameron Lake for some canoeing. Even though I lived in Waterton and go there to hike a lot, I have never been on Cameron Lake in the summer. You think the mountain looks beautiful from the shore but it is NOTHING compared to getting up close and personal.

We rented canoes from Cameron Lake Boat Rentals for $35/hour and an extra $6 per 15 minutes after that.

Mum and Charles canoeing out to the end of the lake

My step dad laid back in the canoe a lot and made my mum do most of the paddling. Lol

So green!

The closer you got, the greener it became

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1/3 One Short Day in Waterton- Bear’s Hump

27 Jul

My mum came into town for a short three day visit and I took Wednesday off to spend the day in Waterton with her.  I had to cram as much Waterton fun as I could in one day and I think I did a good job- I should be a tour guide!

First off was a quick stop to Prince of Wales to check out the historic hotel and take a photo from that scenic view point.

Outside the Prince of Wales hotel

Then it was off to Bears Hump. I was so excited to school these old folks but for some reason I was DIEING. My legs felt weak and it was a struggle to hike up this. It’s a difficult hike but usually not that difficult. Oh well, they loved the view (who wouldn’t). The best part was on the way down we raced my mum. I thought her knees would give out and she would stop and walk but she jogged down the whole thing! I was very proud of her.

One of many breaks on the way up

Lots and lots of stairs!

Mum and I at the top

Me and my baby brother Ben!

Mum checking out the other side

Looking to the left

Looking to the right

Ben loves Bears Hump

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Pics from Magrath Triathlon

24 Jul

I found some!! There was a Magrath Triathlon Facebook page and they had a bunch of pics from last weeks triathlon including one of yours truly starting the run. Yeah!

I’m not in this, but off goes the sprinters!

Swim

That’s me circled in red. The second to last person out of the water! Make shame!

Running. :)

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Struggling to Learn a New Sport as an Adult

23 Jul

For many years of my life I have been the girl everyone wanted on their team. I was fast and competitive and always gave it my all. I was never very coordinated with sports with balls. My sports were all individual sports where you relied on your body; running, gymnastics (which you think would have given me some grace), figure skating, etc.

So you can imagine my sheer frustration as I am in my second year of playing softball and still just as clumsy and awkward as ever. I miss easy balls, can barely hit it past the pitcher, duck when they are whipped at me fast and trip and fall.  I only get asked to play on teams because they want Ryan, who is an excellent player, to play or they are short a girl and I’m better than an automatic out.

This post is brought on by the fact that I TRIPPED AND FELL ON MY FACE running to first at a family tournament this weeked. In front of Ryan’s family I cut open my head and scraped up my nose and even worse, CRIED in front of them!! I had blood gushing from my nose and forehead as I skulked off the field. I didn’t cry because it hurt, I cried because I was so unbelievably humiliated. I still am! I am no longer the girl everyone wants on their team, I am the awkward, sucky girl who everyone has to put up with and I do not like that at all.

This was the day after. The day I fell my nose had a purple bruise on it! Those large “freckles” on my nose are scraped off chunks

So what’s a girl to do? While quitting does sound like the less humiliating option my inner athlete will not let me do that! I have to just keep at it. I have to put in the time and effort and maybe in 10 years I’ll be okay.

This was a scrape from one of my falls last year. I am so clumsy!

I can’t just relax and play softball “for fun” because that isn’t my personality. I never do anything without giving my all.

So I’ll keep at it until something clicks or until I break something- whichever comes first.

I wonder if I’ll ever get the hang of this

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Rewind Button- Astral Weeks, Van Morrison

19 Jul

I can see similarities between Van Morrison’s sound in Astral Weeks and Bob Dylan. The lyrics are poetic stories but instead of Dylan’s harmonica the music is supplemented with violins and a flute/recorder making it sound very 60′s.

That’s where the similarities stop. I was not a fan of this album, is anyone surprised? Morrison’s wailing voice made it difficult to  hear  the lyrics and the lyrics themselves are often too repetitive for my taste.

The album cover was meant to portray the symbolism equating earthly love and heaven that would often feature in Morrison’s work

The only song I could see myself listening to again is Sweet Thing, one of the more upbeat songs and according to some online research it is the only song on the album to look forward instead of backward.

I never would have guessed this was the same artist who wrote the upbeat Brown Eyed Girl.

See what Other Bloggers Thought:

MusicQwest

Be a River With Me

Pimplomat

Magrath Triathlon Recap

17 Jul

I hope that they post pictures on the website because my darling boyfriend forgot the camera and I have no photo proof that I did the Magrath “I Swam the Dam” Triathlon except I guess my official time on the website. Once more, I did a race without training properly beforehand and this is the first one that I paid the price for it.

I had Ryan take a shot the night before as I practised my transition

SWIM (750m)

Olympic swimmers at the start. Photo from http://puzeypages.blogspot.ca/

I borrowed a wet suit and headed out to  St. Mary’s for the swim. When I looked at the distance between buoys I thought “That’s not so bad!” and was feeling good about the race. HA!!! I have never struggled so much at a sport! I ran out in the middle of the pack and thought I was doing great until someone grabbed my leg and yelled “You’re going the wrong way!” See, I have done ONE open water swim in my life and that was my first triathlon back in 2004 or 2005. I must have been told well over a dozen times I was going the wrong way! My goggles fogged up and my wet suit felt like a straight jacket with 10 pound weights on my shoulders.

I’ll be honest, I cried a little. That finish line just would not come to me as I was continually being told I was going the wrong way. I considered quitting many times, but luckily my ego wouldn’t allow that.

I finished the swim in 26:33. I was the second to last person out of the water!!! :{

Sprinters in the water headed for the bike transition. I am waaaaaaay back there somewhere. Photo from http://puzeypages.blogspot.ca/

BIKE (26km)

The bike was pretty easy. There were a couple of steep climbs but I lowered my gear and breathed through it. My only complaint was that my old road bike I bought for $100 years ago does not have enough gears on it! I was on a flat road on the highest gear and could have gone harder for a faster time. Next year I think I’ll have to invest in a proper tri bike.

My bike time was 1:11:55

RUN (5km)

Photo of finish line from http://joshandlaurataylor.blogspot.ca/

I surprised myself with the run! For the first 2 km I jogged/walked and would look down and watch my legs jiggle because the muscles were so fatigued, they were straight up jello! But at about km 2 I got a second wind and was able to jog/walk at a fairly steady pace. In fact, toward the end I was feeling good with my head held high as I picked up my pace. Right before the finish line is a little hill, nothing like the coulees in Lethbridge but I was so tired I started to walk. And then a girl slowly jogged past me and I looked at her leg and saw she was in my race and one year younger than me. My competitive instincts kicked in and I sprinted with everything I had to pass her to the finish line.

My run was 40:04.

My final race time was 2:18:33.

I thought it would be fun to do some math and see what the differences were in my tri from earlier this year.

If I did my math wrong- PLEASE let me know! Lol

As you can see, my bike time is slightly better and my run time is waaaaaay better! That slow swim just killed me.

I intend to do this tri every year, and I know say this after every race but next year I WILL actually TRAIN for this!!

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Lethbridge Dragon Boat Festival 2012

13 Jul

For the third year in a row I got the chance to compete in the Lethbridge Rotary Dragon Boat Festival. This year I raced with the City of Lethbridge team Dragon R’ Butz.  We got off to a really rocky start on Saturday, 2:42 in the first race then something like 2:54 in the second. I got worried, even though I do this for the fun I can’t suppress my inner competitive athlete.

Since the team was made of a lot of City employees we strategized after each race and discussed went well and what didn’t. We figured the problem was that we were doing too many Power 10′s and the lead paddlers were going to fast (oops!).

On Day 2 we decided to have no more than two Power 10′s in a race and to have the whole team yell “Reach. It. Out.” during the race to keep us all on track.

Strategizing

Boy did that ever work! We got down to 2:33:94 in the first race of the second day! Who-hoo! We found a strategy that worked. We ended up in the “C” division  medal race. While waiting in the marshalling area the other teams (including the University and ATB) were singing their chants and cheers. We remained silent. I dubbed us “the silent, serious killers.” We quietly got onto our boat and paddled out.

When the race started we stuck to the original strategy; no more than two Power 10′s and “Reach. It. Out.” It worked for us because we came in first! Gold! With a time of 32:36:44 we had won by 3 seconds. I was very excited, my inner competitiveness could rejoice, we won the gold!

It was another great festival. It was super hot the whole time, there were a ton of great enthusiastic teams, and the entertainment was great.  I love this festival and I hope that I’ll be competing in it every year until I’m 80!

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