You Would Think It Would Be Obvious

In aviation safety there is an old saying, "Learn from the mistakes of others, you will not live long enough to make them all yourself." This is true, eventually a mistake might kill you. This bit of info is true anywhere in life, not just aviation safety.

In the spirit of this bit of info, I have some good advise to share based on some recent experiences.

If you decide to go to Oktoberfest after work on a Friday, and that carries on to the Palamino Club, which leads to eating breakfast at Smitty's at 1 am, followed by a stop at Perkins the next day around noon on the way to pick up your car, it is not a good idea to proceed directly to the gym, which is right across the street from where you picked up your car. The results will not be anything like what you hoped for.

You will feel like garbage.

I know that I usually advocate exercise. It is good for you, and often makes you feel better, however after that combination of events, you will not benefit from exercise. If that perfect storm arises in your life, go home, lay back down on your couch, turn on your big screen, and fall asleep to an afternoon football game.

I realize this should be obvious, however I think I'm reasonably intelligent and I figured it would be a good idea to go to the gym.

Thanksgiving

In Canada, tomorrow will be Thanksgiving. Since my holiday Monday will be full of fitness, football and Metallica, I will take this time to say a couple of things on Thanksgiving.

This is a holiday centred around a traditional meal. I love a good turkey dinner and am thankful that once again I will have the opportunity to enjoy another meal this year.

When I was growing up in Russell, Manitoba Thanksgiving meant it was time for Beef and Barley, the town festival. It was always a good time. I didn't often make it home from university but I always made a point of going home for Beef and Barley.

Thanksgiving is really about being thankful for the good things in your life. We all know that the celebration has its roots in being thankful for a bountiful harvest, as this will ensure we can make it through the long winter.

I must say that there are many things I am thankful for:

1. The people in my life. I was lucky and ended up with a great family. You don't get to choose your family but I managed to join one of the best I have ever seen. I have great friends as well. I'm sure there are times I am not the best guy to be around but I have friends that stick with me even when I'm less than perfect. You can choose your friends, and my friends choose to stick with me, and for that I am very thankful.

2. Being Canadian. There is some choice in your nationality depending on your circumstance. I have never questioned how great it is to be Canadian. We can speak freely. We look out for each other. We can effect change. We can travel freely. We can live safely and comfortably. This is all partly in due to being Canadian.

3. Free Speech. This may be linked to being Canadian, but I am truly thankful for the concept of free speech. The ability to express our differing opinions openly without fear of persecution is a very powerful concept. This is the only way to advance ideas and better the world we live in. It is important to understand for this to work we need tolerance and be willing to look at the counterpoint for its merits.

That's all I have to say on being thankful. Everyone should take some time and spend time with people important to you and take a moment to reflect on what you are truly thankful.

This is Too Easy But...

I drove to work and out for lunch, to the barber, to the grocery store, and home today. It was probably about an hour and fifteen minutes in total. I saw five people run red lights today. Four of them were not even close.

It is common for people to complain about Winnipeg drivers. There are a lot of bad drivers in Winnipeg. There are a lot of bad drivers everywhere. There is no reason people should drive badly. It is not that hard. Most people drive cars that are almost completely automated. We do not have to shift gears, adjust fuel flow, set the spark advance, monitor the engine temperature, turn on the lights, adjust our breaking if we stop suddenly, straighten our car out if it skids on ice, turn on our windshield wipers, or darken our rear view mirror. I realize that not every car does every task but most do most.

If the car is doing all of this, I'm sure the driver has enough mental capacity to accelerate, break, turn, and look out for signals and other vehicles. It is not that difficult.

I am not saying I am a perfect driver. I do make mistakes from time to time, but I do look out and do my best to not cause grief to to others.

It is time for people to start driving better.

SAD

Fall is here. With it the days are definitely getting shorter. With this usual occurrence I now have to wake up before the sun comes over the horizon. Well, I don't actually have to get up, but if I don't I will probably not be employed very long. I have always found it harder to wake up before the sun gets up than after. I also find it harder to be chipper when it I go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. I'm pretty sure I am somewhat effected by Seasonal Affective Disorder or SAD.

I am not incapacitated by it, but I do notice over the winter I don't seem to have as much umph as I do in the summer.

I have also discovered a couple of things that help me:

a. Regular Exercise. The more I go to the gym the better I seem to feel.

b. Getting Out. Going out and doing things, even if they are trivial make me feel better.

c. Eating Healthy. I am not proclaiming I always eat well however, I do notice the better I eat the less I seem to affected by the dark and cold.

I see signs of SAD in a lot of people. It seems the to grow on itself. As people become more affected by it, they seem to not do the things that help themselves and as such it gets worse for them.

I'm not a doctor or any other type of medical authority, but I figure everyone should try to reduce the probability of suffering through SAD. If nothing else it will make the people around you happy.

After a Long Drive

I spent a good portion of last week-end driving to Thunder Bay and back. It is a scenic drive, but it is rather long and is primarily a two lane highway from Falcon Lake on. Needless to say I had a fair amount of sitting motionless in the truck. You have to be alert to drive but you sure don't move very much. Nineteen hours of sitting doesn't get you much exercise.

To add to the unhealthiness, I ate several greasy burgers and the dreaded KFC.

By the time I returned to Winnipeg I was feeling rather lethargic, bloated, and generally crappy.

Monday I returned to the gym. It was not an enjoyable workout. Things hurt. I could feel the remaining greasy food lumbering about in my gut. I didn't seem to be too strong. But, something happened as the workout carried on. I started to feel a bit better. As the day went on I felt a lot better. I started to feel like I normally do. About three hours after my workout I was feeling quite good.

I am sure it was the exercise that improved my overall feeling. I am sure that my life is greatly improved because I regularly work out. There is no magic snake oil that makes you young. Regular exercise will help with feeling like you feel young.

If people don't want to exercise that is their choice but I do not want to hear them complain that they feel old. It would only take a few trips to the gym to take a lot of years off of how you feel.

So I Went To the Apple Store

I had some time today so I checked out the new Apple Store in Winnipeg. This is a retail marvel. Simple accessibility, lots of equipment to try, bright room, friendly staff, and excellent staff. Overall it is an excellent space. I browsed for a while. I tried out some equipment. Eventually I was approached to see if I need any help.

I have a 5 year old Acer computer. It barely does anything anymore. Time has passed it by. I have been completely turned off by Microsoft in the last couple of years. It is cumbersome and glitchy at best. The best offering that Windows has ever had (XP) is no longer available and is barely supported. My computing experience is generally not enjoyable due to the interface and equipment I have.

So I bought a MacBook Pro.

This is my first blog entry on my new computer. It is different, but really easy to use. It is intuitive. It is fast. It is even a bit nifty. It was simple to set up. The help is clear and straight forward. It is everything the commercials promised so far. I'm sure that there will be times I have difficulties but so far so good.

How Can You Tell Fall is Here?

There are always a number of ways to confirm fall has arrived in Winnipeg. After having an excellent month of September weather wise, in Winnipeg, the weather has returned to more typical temperatures. There are a number of ways to confirm that it is in fact fall:

1. School buses have returned to the streets.

2. It gets dark a lot sooner.

3. It is not as warm.

4. Football and hockey have returned to the collective consciousness.

5. The gym is once again busy with people doing their cardio.

During the warm months many people choose to exercise outside. I'm all for this. We need to enjoy every minute of nice weather in places like Winnipeg. It was quite noticeable, on the first cool day I was at the gym, the population was triple what it had been during our beautiful September.

It's good to see that a lot of people are taking charge of their life and wellness. It's good to see people were taking advantage of the nice weather during September. I think slowly, Canadians are embracing the idea of being more active.

No matter how slow the change is, as long as more Canadians are actively exercising and living a healthier lifestyle the better we all are, even if it means the gym is suddenly much more busy.