Canadian Television

I read an article today about Alberta's Culture Minister making comments that "Canadian TV is crap".

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2010/06/16/calgary-blackett-banff-television-comments-backlash.html?ref=fh,www.mymanitoba.com

He's taking a lot of flack for it, but honestly, I can't really say that I disagree with him (before he backpedaled). When I think of good Canadian programming (excluding sports coverage, which is excellent), I have trouble thinking of a lot of candidates. The ones that come to mind are:

Corner Gas
Canada's Worst Driver/Handyman
Battle of the Blades
Dragon's Den

Honorable mentions to programs that have been out of production for a few years - Royal Canadian Air Farce, the Red Green Show, The Littlest Hobo, and old school Degrassi

I really can't think of any other Canadian programs I really enjoy watching, to be honest. I think one of our problems is Canadian programming has to feature the best Canadian for the job. Compare that to the United States, where it's not the best American for the job, it's the best person for the job, period.

I have to wonder if we cut down on the Canadian quotas (for crew, actors, etc) in our television and film industry, if that would in fact strengthen what we have.

The Deep End

Today I rode my bike to work.

Not the biggest accomplishment in human history, but I'm pretty darn proud of this addition to my personal history. I would guesstimate that it is around 20 km from my house to Riverton. I've been telling myself that I would try it out one day, biking to work, but thought maybe I'd first to a trial run on a week-end.

I don't think I ever would have done that trial run. I would have come up with other things to do, or made excuses, and I doubt I ever would have gone.

This morning, I got up and decided the heck with it, I'm going to jump on my bike and just do it. It's not like I have any choice but to keep on going once I've started. I also have no choice but to bike home today as well, because Sarah will be working at Spruce Sands tonight and won't be able to pick me up and drive me home. And that's where the title of this post comes from.

Sometimes we have to "jump into the deep end" to push ourselves to achieve new things. We can analyze things, think through the pros and cons, but sometimes we spend too much time on analysis and not enough time on action.

And just to finish up, here is what I learned about biking to work in the country:
- Fresh gravel is the enemy of the cyclist
- My shoulder bag is not as suited to cycling as I thought it was
- Head winds suck (well, technically they blow I suppose)
- People don't always slow down when they pass you on a gravel road
- Nature is loud

- What a great way to start the morning!! (in all seriousness, no sarcasm here, it was a great way to start the morning)

Robert Munsch

It has come out in the news over the last couple of days that children's author Robert Munsch has been battling drug and alcohol addictions; he announced now that he is 4 months clean and sober.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/05/18/munsch-support.html?ref=fh,www.mymanitoba.com

The article I've linked to above talks about the positive feedback Munsch has received for coming clean on his addiction, and how most people are being very forgiving and understanding.

While I'm glad to hear he is 4 months sober, I do have to wonder though at the acceptance he is receiving. Robert Munsch is a children's entertainer, through his books and the tours he goes on. As a children's entertainer, whether he intended to be or not, he is a role model for young kids.

I have to wonder if people would be as accepting if it came out that a school teacher was battling drugs and alcohol. Would that teacher, who is also a role model to children, get such acceptance? Or would they get run out of town? Is Munsch's celebrity the reason he is receiving accolades for revealing his struggle?

PATH Facilitation

Last week I took part in a PATH Facilitator training course. PATH stands for "Planning Alternatives for Tomorrow with Hope", and is planning tool that can be used for individuals or groups to help define goals and map out the way to achieve those goals.

I thought I'd write a little on the subject, and to give you a visual, I'm going to use this PATH done by a group of Interlake recreation, health, and sport professionals done in March of 2009 (that I participated in) as my example.



Looking at that image, I'm sure it is pretty difficult to discern what is going on. Let me break it down for you.

The first thing you do is title your PATH, to give some focus. We were discussing physical activity in the Interlake, which our title reflects. After that you being to "dream", and that is the images at the bottom of the image. Normally the dream would be on the right-hand side of the PATH, but for space reasons when I redid this on the computer I put it on the bottom.

The next step is to then create some Goals, which are in the circle on the end (which I like to call the Pac-Man section). Any goals that are listed need to be "Positive and Possible"; we don't want to set goals that cannot be achieved (eg. "We will build a multi-use facility in Geysir in 2 months!"), and we want our goals to be phrased positively.

We then jump to the "Now" section on the far left. The Now is just some quick facts about the current situation, but they don't necessarily have to be directly related to the Goals.

We then go to the "Enroll" section; this is where we list the people we need to get on board to make these Goals happen. When I did this on the computer I colour-coded everything, so that if you read the blue text, it is all for that one Goal.

"Stronger" can basically be divided into three sub-categories: Communication, Information, Celebrate. Basically, who do we need to communicate with and how will we do so, what information needs to be gathered, and how are we going to celebrate our successes.

Then we move to "First Steps" and "Half-Way" (Half-Way is the arrow head, I forgot to label that when I made this graphic over a year ago). We work backwards from here; we look at our Goal, and figure out what needs to be done by the Half-Way point (if our Goals are to be completed in March 2010, and we did the PATH in March 2009, the Half-Way point would be September 2009). Then, we go back further, and figure out the very first thing we need to do.

After that, participants are asked to express in one word how they feel about the PATH; those are the words along the very bottom of the graphic. All participants in the PATH are then asked to sign the poster (not replicated on the computer graphic), as a way of taking ownership of the plan.

It's a neat process to do, and as I said, it could be done as a personal planning tool, for a business, non-profit organization, whatever! I am now a trained facilitator in the process, so if you find yourself interested, let me know! I'm hoping to do a PATH or two in the community shortly; 2 facilitators are required to do a PATH, but fortunately for me 3 other people who work in Riverton also took the training!

Hurry Hard, Comrade

So it was in the news yesterday that Jason Gunnlaugson, a Manitoba curler who managed to qualify for the Canadian Olympic Trials last year, is going to be curling for Russia for the next four years.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/curling/curling-for-the-kremlin-92393409.html

The initial knee-jerk reaction is Gunnlaugson is deserting his country to compete for Russia in the 2014 Olympics, that he's a deserter. And while I was surprised to hear of his decision to curl for Russia (since the Manitoba curling scene is starting to open up for the younger teams with Burtnyk retiring from competitive curling and Stoughton getting up there in age), I can't say I blame him.

Firstly, he will be a funded athlete, meaning that he will truly be a professional curler. He will be getting paid to do what he does best. This is a guy who play on-line poker to support himself while curling because of the flexible hours needed to dedicate yourself to the sport. No more hunting for sponsorships, he will be a paid curler.

Second, he will be living in Russia for 2 months out of the year, an adventure he is looking forward to. Getting to experience another culture on the host country's dime is something a lot of people would love to do. He'll still spend most of his time in Canada, especially since most of the World Curling Tour events are in Canada. The report said he'd curl about 2/3 of the times in Canada and 1/3 in Europe. So not only will he get to see Russia, but other parts of Europe as well.

Third, he wants to get international experience; do you know how hard that is to do in Canada? Canada has such a strong field of curlers it is almost impossible to get to the international level. Look at Kevin Koe this year; he's never been able to curl for his country because Kevin Martin and Randy Ferby live in the same province as him. With Martin curling at the Olympics, Koe was able to attend his first Brier, win that, and then go on to become world champion! A guy who never made it to the Canadian play-downs beat the rest of the world! If that doesn't show the depth of Canadian curling, nothing will.

By playing for Russia, Gunnlaugson automatically becomes top dog and will be able to get that international experience. He will also be helping to grow the sport in Russia, which is a good thing.

It shows though that maybe Curl Canada has to look at the way things are done in Canada; a promising young curler defects to another country because he has the chance to become a professional athlete, not one who also has to hold down a day job. This certainly isn't the first time something like this has happened, but I think it is a first for curling. Hopefully it doesn't become a trend, but if I was Gunnlaugson, I can say I certainly would have been tempted by the opportunity.

Chewing Gum = Safe Sex

Sarah and I were flipping between a couple of shows last night, and saw the following commercial.



The commercial is playing with the concept of Dentyne Ice replacing a condom (not literally!), insinuating that by chewing their gum you are more likely to get sex on a date. What I found ironic about this commercial is the show we saw it aired during.



Clearly if these kids had chewed Dentyne they wouldn't have ended up in this predicament.

Making Progress

I hit a milestone in my weight-loss journey today; I tried on my high school volleyball jersey and it fits again! It's not as loose as it was, but just the fact I can wear it again makes me pretty happy (I'm actually wearing it right now!).

Sarah has really helped me re-focus on losing weight, using a website called www.sparkpeople.com. There is a calorie counter that really helps with your own awareness of how many calories you take in. It also has a fitness tracker, with goals you can set for time spent on physical activity and roughly how many calories you burn doing your activity.

My goal is to get some solid physical activity at least 3 times a week, though I'm really trying to get do it at least 4 times a week. Getting back into badminton helps, and soccer starts in a couple of weeks. Otherwise I've been riding my bike again (I'm thinking of trying to bike to work pretty soon, though I'm not really in bike shape so it might take awhile), going for walks with Sarah, stuff like that.

I'm at 273 right now; 2 months before my wedding I weighed 314. So I'm pretty pumped about how I've been doing, and I need to maintain that momentum going into the summer. My end goal is to get myself down to 220 pounds, but right now I'm just taking it one day at a time, celebrating the small victories.