Bear's on the Run

I had a sense that we were in for a treat on this road trip when that black bear went dashing across the highway, about one hundred feet in front of us, just a few kilometres outside Fort McMurray on our way south to Edmonton. The black mass was ambling in the west side ditch, something clutched in its mouth-dinner for a little later-when it made its decisions to head east.

A bear is a rare sight these days, so we were immediately stoked. The 10 deer that followed only served to heightened our appetite for wildlife. All of a sudden something was dancing off in the distance, a mama moose and its recent offspring, chasing each other in play enjoying the mid-morning sunshine-quite a sight.

Several hawks, a lone coyote and even a squirmy little gopher came into our sights.

When the sun is shining and the landscape is green, watching for animals is a perfect compliment to the journey. It's interesting how the presence of animals can have a completely different effect at other times of the year. In the dullness of dusk, they can inject a solid measure of apprehension and fear without even being present. Thankfully, dusk happens crazy late at night in this part of the work in summer, long after the car has been parked and we put the car keys to bed.

Day #1 of our vacation: Fort McMurray to Edmonton, Fantasyland Hotel, West Edmonton Mall

Life in the North

I was interviewed by Wayne Taiji yesterday, doing some brand development work for the NADC - Northern Alberta Development Council. He asked a lot of questions about qualilty of life in this region and the quality of living a "northern" life.

It put me in mind of one of my first days in Fort McMurray, standing in the middle of the Father Mercredi High School field on the way from my condo in the 400 block to an Oil Barons game at Thickwood Arena. I stopped, spun around and looked up into the cold northern sky. And I remember, clearly and distinctly, thinking that this was as far north and as isolated as I had ever been.

Fort McMurray was a different community back in 1996-just over 30,000 people, small, intimate. I was driving up the highway for the first time, going for a job interview at the radio station. Listening to CJOK, Andrew Ramer piped up..."and a big hello to Russell Thomas, driving up for a visit today." I felt like I was all alone on that desolate road and that the most exciting moment of the day was my arrival to town. The place felt small, and I felt large.

Back in those days, condos in the 600 block were selling for between $40K and $50K, with all new appliances! Houses were still in the $100K range and the future of the oil sands was still in doubt. Everything turned on the proverbial dime when Jean Cretien came to town to formalize a dramatic change to the royalties framework. The condo that I bought for $60K sold for $80K ten months later and now sells for almost $500K.

We're busier, bigger and arguably better. While we felt like the outskirts of nowhere 15 years ago, we now live in the economic epicentre of the province and possibly, the country. The centre of the universe has shifted north and we've gone from nowhere to everywhere.

June 25, 2010 - 193.2 pounds, 28.2% body fat

It takes a community to raise a....stage

While I'm thrilled that we're heading home to Saskatchewan for a couple of weeks of much-needed R & R, I'm disappointed that we'll miss three incredible nights of music on MacDonald Island.

With terrific support from Big Spirit, MIX 103.7 and MacDonald Island Park, Events Wood Buffalo was able to attract the Barenaked Ladies for the CANADA ROCKS concert. Last here in about 1997, playing the infamous FlyDome, BNL has gone through a metamorphasis of sorts, sloughing off their party-prone frontman, Steven Paige. Their new album is awesome and is played profusely on the local radio station that plays "today's best music."

Opening for BNL is the talented country bombshell from Vancouver-Jessie Farrell. She stacked up the wins at this year's Canadian Music Association awards and is sure to impress the crowd, expected to be several thousand strong.

What began as a concert by the go-cart track on top of a flatbed trailer in 1995 followed by a brief fireworks display, has grown into its own as a major concert event featuring a number of acts including headliner Kim Mitchell on Canada Day Eve.

Taking full advantage of a state-of-the-art stage set-up complete with the A-List sound and light system, July 1st will feature Kenny Hess and Charlie Major leading into the feature performance by Dwight Yoakam.

All of this excitement is only made possible through the strength of community organizations coming together to make it happen.

"We can do so much more when we do things together!"

June 23, 2010

Where the Buffalo Roam

If you could hop into a time machine and go back 30 years, the Manitoba maples in my back yard would be a lot shorter than they are today, but the shape of the yard and the physical appearance of the house from the street would probably be pretty similar to what it is today. Go back those same 30 years on the spot where the bison roam on the Syncrude site and the change in vistas would be dramatic.

The bison paddock just past Gateway Hill and around dead man's curve is a rolling, lush meadow-home to an award winning herd of over 300 wood bison. Set off against a small pond brimming with birds and vegetation, 7 to 10 bison were in our sights yesterday as we made the requisite stop at the Wood Bison Viewpoint (a brainchild of former Syncrude public relations luminary Darcy Levesque) during a guided tour.

Go back 30 years, looking south on the same spot that we sat gazing at these majestic and beautiful bison-gazing back at us with curiosity mere feet beyond the protective fence-and you would be gaping at an enormous hole, deep and dusty with a complete absence of colour. A gigantic bucketwheel would be off in the distance, inhaling pile after pile of oil sand gathered and heaped up by the leviathon of the tarsands called the dragline.

The recoverable oil from this particular spot was harnessed in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Over time, the holes were filled in with tailings sand, shaped and contoured, then topped with overburden, planted with native grasses, shrubs and trees, and left to re-establish its connection with nature.

Walking around the reclaimed portions of Syncrude, now almost 5,000 hectares (100 metres x 100 metres x 5,000), evidence of what is natural and what is reclaimed is hard to come by. According to Cheryl Robb, Syncrude Media Relations Advisor, she often asks visitors to this park to try and spot the difference. Apart from trees that might be a little too strategically planted, and a forest floor that might be in short supply of decaying organic material, it's incredibly difficult to tell the difference.

You can travel anywhere in the world and see countless examples of mining operations where the earth was raped and left to fend for itself, huge tracts of land scarred and ruined. And despite the protestations of environmental groups about the Athabasca Oil Sands, 50 years from now, that massive hole in the ground the size of Fort McMurray, teeming with some of the biggest trucks and shovels on planet earth-Syncrude's North Mine-will be rolling, beautiful boreal forest again.

The non-renewable resource business is never pretty. As a developer, you're put into a situation where you're tasked with taking something that you can never replace. The oil that is coming out of the north eastern corner of Alberta is fueling cars, heating homes and making life livable for millions upon millions of people around the globe. Companies like Syncrude are not only securing Canada's energy future, but they are also using everything in their power to put the earth back to as close to the way it was as is scientifically possible. We demand it of them, and they demand it of themselves.

One day, long into the distant future, when my children's children's children are enjoying life in Wood Buffalo, it is quite conceivable that this region will be the northern Canadian paradise where the bison truly roam, wild and majestic, like they did long ago. At that same point many years from now, the suburbs of Toronto will still be the suburbs of Toronto, only the concrete sidewalks and sprawling homes will be a little less shiny than they are today.

June 23, 2010 - 194.2 pounds, 28.2% body fat

Pondering in Purgatory

It happened so fast, releasing itself from the grip it held on my belt, falling helplessly into the water. It took about a millisecond to react, but no sooner had my BlackBerry hit the river I scooped it out and started shaking away the moisture.

In the initial moments following the shock, the BB stayed lit, refusing to acknowledge what had happened. But much like a luxury liner on its way to the bottom of the ocean, eventually the water is going to hit some critical piece of electronics and the lights are going to go off. Soon all was black and I was removing the back battery cover, starting to think more clearly.

I carefully laid things out on a log on the beach letting the sun do its business. But following some quick online research when we got home, I realize now that putting the battery back in to see if it would work was probably the wrong thing to do-circuitry, electricity and water are not a good combination.

The universal advice from the social media universe was to put the components in a baggie of rice and let it absorb the moisture. If things didn't get fried in the the initial start-up, it is concievable that you can breathe life back into a drowned BB.

As it sits quietly on a bed of rice, drying on top of the television, I'm wishing I could have a do over. If I only had made a different choice. There have been a sparse few moments in my life that I would play the do over card and this was probably one of them.

Certainly, there are moments of anger that I'd love to take back-several of those scattered over the ages though few in recent years. There was the time I was pushing my first wife's Ford Escort to a different spot in our driveway at Sproat Lake, west of Port Alberni-its battery had died and I needed to make room for another vehicle. Putting it into neutral, I was confident that I would be able to push the compact car where I wanted it to go. Little did I know that the slight incline would provide enough gravitational force to make what seemed easy impossible. The car starting rolling back on me as I desperately tried to jump in and slam on the brake. But it was moving too fast and all I could do was leap out of the way and watch it careen down a hill into the brand new car belonging to my aged landlords. SMASH!!! -a do over moment if there ever was one.

In reflection though, all things good and bad happen for a reason, and do overs would only inhibit destiny. My BlackBerry is figuring out whether it's going to live or die-pondering in purgatory. I'll trust its decision and carry on merrily.

June 20, 2010 193.4 pounds, 28.1% body fat

Joy and Festivity

There are moments from every special event that I've been involved with over the years that stick, memories that resonate long after the tents have been taken down, folded up and trucked off to the next celebration. At the 10th annual Summer Solstice Picnic in the Park the moments were many.

• Watching the young children twirling around with feather boas blowing in the wind, dancing at the front of the stage while the Dino Martinis, decked out in their white and pink suits, played the hits.


• Standing at the side of the stage watching 8 year old Karlie Boostram belting out a Johnny Cash classic. (she ended up winning 2nd prize-her dad Melvin on the top prize)


• Seeing our wonderful Keyano staff who were doing the cleaning and recycling, running around picking up bottles and cans with huge smiles on their faces...God love them!


• Observing the look of satisfaction and pride in the face of Natasha John-Hurford who, in the second year of coordinating the event, hit a HOME RUN!


• Walking around picking up bits of garbage near the end of the event, surprised how clean things were despite the thousands of people who came through in a short couple of hours


• Glancing up at the clouds, grateful that we had another Solstice free from rain, an outcome that was in question as the clouds began forming at the beginning of the event


• Hearing the quote of the night from Pat McGannon from the Dino Martinis: "We left Calgary and the weather felt like Christmas. Getting off the plane in Fort McMurray it felt like we'd landed in Hawaii!"

June 19, 2010 - 193.4 pounds, 28.1% body fat

Summer Solstice

The Summer Solstice Picnic in the Park at Keyano College has become a family favourite and a signal that summer is just days away. The event began 10 years ago as a public celebration of the launch of the fundraising campaign for the building of the Syncrude Technology Centre. It was such a roaring success that then Manager of Public Relations, Linda Bucke, suggested that the college host a picnic every year. President Doug MacRae agreed and the rest is history.

Since then, Summer Solstice has grown and evolved, providing a wonderful few hours when you get to leave your wallet at home and enjoy! Our friends at Canadian Natural came on board as a major sponsor in year two or three and have been with us ever since. Not only do they provide financial support to make the picnic happen, they set up their own tent and participate in the fun.

I've been a part of Summer Solstice for the past decade, helping out with tents and organizing entertainment when I was the publicist at the Theatre, and supporting our Marketing & Communications staff who organize and execute the event now. In all those years, we've been rained on once, for about an hour while Mychela's band played. Everyone huddled under tents, enjoyed the music, then emerged to bright sun that quickly dried things up. That was probably six or seven years ago.

This year's Summer Solstice is especially cool. The Summer Solstice Star Search will feature 10 local acts, vying for big prizes. The esteemed judges who will be tasked with deciding winners include Claude Giroux from Events Wood Buffalo, Craig Picton from MIX 103.7 and Councillor Mike Allen from Campbell's Music.

One of my favourite elements of the event, an item we added about five years ago, is the High School Jazz Band Showcase. For about an hour and a half, we get to enjoy jazz ensembles from all three of our high schools. Absolutely fun and totally cool, these young musicians inject the park with energy and excitement.

This year, we've brought back the beloved Bridge Building Competition. Competitors build a bridge using Popsicle sticks that get tested with a hydraulic press to see how much weight they can sustain before SNAPPING! It's intense!

Last year, we stretched out the event a little later for the first time, taking advantage of one of the longest days of the year. Tonight, the DINO MARTINIS will take the mainstage, playing hits from the past 40 years. Their claim to fame is that they have a set list of over 1,500 songs, that they play without sheet music or charts AND in the key in which they were originally performed.

According to Pat McGannon from the band, they were playing a dingy bar in Los Angeles when something extraordinary happened.

"We were playing to a virtually empty house on a quiet night in L.A.," he said. "After the show we found out that an event planner was in the audience who came up to us to say we would be perfect for a party she was planning. We signed up, went to the gig, and found out it was a fundraising event hosted by actor Tom Hanks. It was quite a night!"

Of course, while the mainstage and bridge building fun happens, there are a tonne of other things for families to do. Our good friends from Jump N Shout will have some inflatables in the park. Four face painters will be scattered throughout the park (if there is one thing I've learned about planning these kind of events over the years-you can NEVER have enough face painters). There is a magician, balloon artist, stilt walker and street performer to keep you laughing while you wait in line for your free and delicious barbecue dinner courtesy of Ovation Catering & Banquets.

Believe it or not, we also have the Vacouver Aquarium represented at Summer Solstice in the "Living Waters" tent. Also, the Edmonton Oilers promo squad will be here with some fun activities and prizes.

Speaking of giveaways, get ready to flock to the front of the mainstage around 7:30 pm. That's when we'll be tossing out a whole bunch of great prizes.

The 10th Annual Summer Solstice starts at 4 pm in Doug MacRae Park at the corner of Franklin and King. Parking is available in front of the Theatre and Arts Centre, Bob Lamb Industry Education Centre and the Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre. And, for today only, parking is FREE!

June 18, 2010 - 193.4 pounds, 29.2% body fat

The Mighty Brenda

In 2008, Keyano College hosted the annual Alberta-North Access Symposium-a two day conference for a group of educators who are called Community Access Point Coordinators and representatives from all levels at colleges in the north. Brenda Robinson from the Robcan Group was delivering one of the keynote sessions in the Doug Schmit Lecture Theatre while then Leadership Wood Buffalo Executive Director Sana Elache walked by.

"I started hearing laughing," she said. "That would be followed some silence, then more laughing. I was drawn to the sound."

Sana watched as the mighty Brenda-who, by that time, I had had the pleasure of seeing several times at other events-captivated the room and achieved the revered state of TE, or Total Engagement.

Because of that brief moment of happenstance, and the fact that Sana stuck around till the end of the presentation to get Brenda's business card, we were able to enjoy TE at yesterday's Leadership Wood Buffalo board retreat.

Brenda Robinson is a facilitator and presenter, not to mention a seasoned storyteller and teacher. She is your favourite aunt, gregarious neighbor, sage professor. She also has a sharply honed Canadian sense of humour that has the capacity to keep things light enough to ensure the content sticks.

As I reflected on yet another great three hour stretch with the mighty Brenda, I had visions of bundling her up and putting her on a plane to share her with our American friends at the next National Council of Marketing and Public Relations conference in Philadelphia. I think she'd be the perfect Canadian export, a presenter who could illuminate the minds of many, and create some hearty cross-cultural laughter in the process.

June 17, 2010 - 194.4 pounds, 28.2% body fat

Our Summer Project

Our summer projects of the past have consisted of building things: flowers bed, raised gardens and most recently, a tree house; of reading lots of novels and of doing more things together as a family. The summer of 2010 will include elements and whispers of warm days past, and it will include a new challenge: to watch the entire run of The West Wing, from 1999's inaugural season to 2006's finale.

Heather and I enjoy watching seasons, as opposed to episodes. In other words, on successive evenings, during our alone time, we'll work our way through boxed sets. The Sopranos and Mad Men are two of our favourities. On some nights, when the mood is right, we'll do two or three episodes in a row. Other times, when we're more tired, a 50-minute single show is enough to assuage our cravings.

As a normal television viewer, I ran into The West Wing many times. I couldn't tell you what day it played or what time, but its characters are familiar. Nearing the end of Season One, the characters are now very familiar, a reflection of many of the issues and dynamics that exist in my own work place: The Bob Lamb (toying with the idea of writing my own series).

Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler argue and get excited about words and messaging. Kiran and I do the same thing in the Marketing and Communications department at the College, often debating about headlines, phrases and dangling modifiers.

Josh Lyman is the Deputy Chief of Staff who helps set policy and direction-he "serves at the pleasure of the President." All of us, to a fault, do the same, every day.

CJ Cregg is the Press Secretary, the public face of the Presidency who hosts the White House press briefings several times a day, managing the message and fielding the fly balls that come at her from all directions.

Leo McGarry is the Chief of Staff, a position that apart from the President, yields the most power and influence in the big white house in DC.

I like a million different things about this show but I particularly love that depending on the situation, everyone owns a challenge at one point or another-each is expected to step up to the plate to face the pitcher and hit the ball. And much like the theatrical ensemble reference that there are no small parts-because every role is integral-the same goes for a baseball team, or White House staff, or Marketing & Communications department.

The Bartlet Administration flounders in their first term. Hesitant, uncertain, acquiescant, their legislative agenda sits in the on-deck circle as they cautiously bunt at hopes of positioning themselves for a second term. Bob Dylan once wrote "there's no success like failure, but failure's no success at all" (Love Minus Zero/No Limit - 1965). Eventually, they realize that success is not necessarily about winning so you can come back and play another day, it's about playing the game that's in front of you with your whole heart and soul, and the breadth of your conviction. Swing away, and let destiny decide who wins or loses.

June 16, 2010 - 194.6 pounds, 35% body fat

Not another fish tale

It was a quiet Saturday morning on the spot where the Snye meets the Clearwater, a sandy point that is one of the natural gathering points along the water in Fort McMurray. By the end of a sunny day on the weekend, this spot will be overflowing with cars and trucks, people and their dogs, and fishermen trying to carve out a prime spot in a place where fishing real estate is in high demand and short supply. But yesterday morning, it was just me.

As I sat in my lawn chair, eyes focused on the tip of my rod sitting in a spare piece of pvc pipe lodged in the sand, I was waiting for the slightest quiver and the possibility that a fish was considering my underwater offering of skewered minnow.

From the float plane side of the Snye, the sound of spinning tires was followed by a late model black Ford Tempo, screaming toward the point. The driver slammed on his brake and executed a noisy donut before heading back from where he came. The pair of yahoos did another donut then began heading back my way. At this point I had had enough and decided to google the RCMP complaint line, thinking that calling 9-11 was a little over the top.

As they kicked up another pile of sand and started back down the road, narrowly missing the grader operator, I was still playing with my Blackberry trying to find the right number. I looked up and as if in slow motion, watched the car careen past a large fuel tank and drive right into the water.

It was at this time that I felt I had enough cause to call 9-11. I was talking to the operator as the two young fellows crawled out of the windows and onto the roof of the now submerged car.

"OK, they're out and heading up to the road," I said to the operator. "Now they're heading into the forest. They're fleeing the scene."

While police cars and spectators tried to figure out what happened, I continued fishing, trying to catch something, anything. Eventually, a constable came over to get my statement. And while I was voicing my account of the incident into a tiny handheld digital tape recorder, my rod dipped violently toward the water. I instinctively lunged to grab hold, leaving the officer with tape in hand, likely snickering at my divergent priorities.

The fish was gone. So, I set it in place again and returned to the interview.

Bam! Another hit and another lunge back to the rod.

Nothing again. The interview was done and so were the bites. And while I went home empty-handed, I did manage to snag quite a tale.

June 13, 2010 - 194.6 pounds, 34.2% body fat

Birthdays in the time of Facebook

I was born in 1967, forty-three years ago today. My memories are pasted with images of backyard celebrations, of elaborate cakes filled with money wrapped in tin-foil, and the exhilaration of getting the bumps-the number getting larger each year. The photographs capture the change in styles, from the plaid pants of the mid-seventies to the shaggy hair as the eighties neared.

Who could have imagined the shape of birthdays four decades down the road? Wishes began pouring in early this morning, first from the east, two hours ahead, and then further and further west as the day proceeded. Wishes came from old friends, new friends, and a whole bunch of people I've never met-people who have become strangely familiar as we observe each others' lives from our perch in front of the computer monitor.

One greeting came from Kyla Eiffert, whose grandmother was our next door neighbor-Mrs. Bloudoff. Kyla is married to Archie who is celebrating his 43rd birthday today, too. Also born in Kamsack, Archie was likely in the bassinet to my left.

Another greeting came from Michelle in Red Deer. Our families have been friends as long as either of us can remember. Her brother Michael was a buddy from my youth who left us way too early, dying of cancer a number of years ago. His resting place is just up the path from my grandparents in the Kamsack Cemetery. Michael is the fellow in the glasses to my right at what appears to be my 10th or 11th birthday.

Some of the greetings were short and simple, others were clever and creative. Most were from across Canada while others originated from points further south. All were sent with positive thoughts and the best of intentions.

Many things have changed about birthdays since my grandma held my brother Greg while I blew out the candles in 1973, but some things remain absolutely the same: the taste of a good cake, being surrounded by joyful friends, and basking in the rousing renditions of the Happy Birthday song, each sounding completely different than the other.

It is just about 8:30 pm and 150 messages have come in so far. Crazy and wonderful! Thanks for a great day.

June 11, 2010 - 194.6 pounds, 33.4% body fat

Pace of Progress

I shut things down at 4 pm on Monday, packed up my computer bag and my cloth grocery bag filled with my workout gear, and darted outside into the cool, crisp air of a windy early June afternoon. As Heather had dropped me off in the morning, I decided a walk home would be great for my escalating body fat which has inexplicably jumped from 28 to 33 percent.

The progress of construction along my route continues to amaze me. Alberta Motor Products has built a titanic parkade just behind their main dealership, a five-story structure made from preformed concrete slabs that were swung into place by a towering crane. This is the biggest auto emporium I have ever seen, it comprises more than a full city block, buying up extra adjacent space over the years as their profits and fleet business soared.

Terracon is building a new three-story headquarters on the same street along with what looks to be another parkade-like project next to Canwest Propane. Three projects, tens of millions of dollars in construction, two blocks in a downtown with myriad projects on the build. The pace of progress is staggering.



Walking along the west side of the loop road, things are starting to take shape with the marine park that has been crawling along for years. A children's play park is rising as part of the project along the Clearwater River, brightly covered ships and activities that attract the attention of my seven year old son Ben every time we drive by.

In the world of progress-yet-to-come, engineers and planners are still trying to figure out how to extend the loop road beyond the low-cost housing project and the old Sears location (now Napa Auto Parts) to Hardin or Morrison streets where it will reconnect with Franklin Avenue and a direct route to Highway 63 south or across the new bridge to the north. Some of those buildings will need to go away to make space for this arterial road project that will provide a much-needed alternate route through downtown.



I look forward to the day when a pedestrian-friendly boardwalk is in place, snaking around the path of the river, lit with classic streetlights, dressed with resilient park benches and surrounded by green rolling park space. I dream of the potential of the Clearwater corridor and the impact it could have on our citizens and the visitors to our community. That dream crystallizes a little more each time I stroll through. And while the pace of progress is slow, it is there--which emboldens by soul.

June 9, 2010 - 193.4 pounds, 33% body fat

Killin' the Virus

Once every couple of years, our home computer get riddled with viruses that claw and squirrel their way into the inner sanctum of our mega-city of files. How they got in nobody knows. Whether it was a wrong choice of website link or a dreaded fake email or Facebook message, the damage is done and no matter how many times I run the virus scan or Spybot Search & Destroy program, several resilient files refuse to die and within minutes begin replicating and creating havoc.

The last time this happened was during the interPLAY Festival weekend in 2007 or 2008. I spent hours on the phone with technicians in India who ran the machine through every virus scan and malware clean-up program known to man, with no success. In the end, everything had to be wiped and we had to reinstall Windows. I was a mess.

Imagine our forefathers trying to understand the concept of computer viruses. Back in those days, the mention of a Trojan inspired thoughts wild nights filled with passion. Mention that you've got a Trojan today and it inspires very different thoughts.

So, as I struggled running the virus scan over and over again, I suddenly realized that there might be some help out there on the interweb. Into the Google search bar I typed "virtual computer repair". Sure enough, there are companies in India that will take over my computer and solve the problem. Or perhaps this is just another scam wrapped in the bright packaging of hope and resurrection. Time will tell, after I've paid my forty buck of course.

June 6, 2010 - 194.6 pounds, 33% body fat

Photo Credit:

http://www.rstack.net/show-image/736966/Artwork-by-Robert-Stack/Computer-Virus-Contamination.jpg

Creature of Habit, Creature of Change

I'm a creature of habit, so my wife says. I get up at the same time every morning, no need for an alarm clock. I do the laundry in a very particular and predictable way. And I definitely thrive on routine.

All of that said, I've always been the one to shake things up, whether at home or at work. When I was a kid, I'd be the one to suggest a rearranging of the living room. I would take it on myself to flip the sofa position, find a new spot for the tv, and reorganize the books on the shelf. I distinctly remember the anticipation of surprising and delighting the family with a new look. Thirty years along and change is still my habit.

Part of my orientation as a human being is the desire to seek balance. But I seem to have a sixth sense about when things need to be shaken around in order to achieve a better balance. Unfortunately, in the midst of that kind of change, I can prove to be an unpopular person--disliked, disdained, and somewhat displaced. I think that could be the fundamental question of leadership, if you can keep your eyes to the future when the present is crashing in around you. If...

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)

Mr. Kipling wrote those words in 1895, about ten years after my great great grandfather Alexander Fleming Thomas moved to Saskatchewan to homestead about "seven miles north east of the present town of Rhein" (from Spinning Stories: A Woven History). I guess that makes me a 5th generation Canadian and the 5th generation that has read and heard the words that ask "If...".

I started rearranging our bedroom this morning, wanting to surprise Heather when she returns from her final weekend away, completing two years of massage therapy training.

I continue to be inspired by her fortitude and determination, her ability to find beauty in the billows of the threatening thunderclouds, and her willingness to embrace change and challenge with delightful fervor. She is my habit and my change, the perfect balance of all the things that life can offer up--good, bad, happy and sad--she is my everything.

June 5, 2010 - 196 pounds, 32.3% body fat

Image Credit: http://iheartwallstreet.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/change_000.jpg

Are We Special?

The question of the special status of Fort McMurray - Wood Buffalo was front and centre today as Energy Minister Ron Liepert addressed a crowd gathered for a Chamber of Commerce sponsored breakfast.

First of all, let me say that I like this guy. Not only is he a survivor, getting through an embattled tenure as Health Minister, he is also a fellow Saskatchewonian like myself. Mr. Liepert hails from Yorkton, exactly 20 minutes south and 25 minutes west of Kamsack.

Secondly, I don't envy his task as the Minister in the cross hairs of the tar sands vs. oil sands war being waged by environmentalists from Toledo to Timbuktu. He's doing his best to communicate truth about what's happening in the northeastern quadrant of Alberta. And while I wish I had a copy of his speech to reference his specific points, there were several that resonated enough for me to remember.

How important is the oil and gas industry to Alberta's economy?

If you took away all those royalties, you'd need to levy a 16% sales tax to cover the lost revenue.

Did you know that the amount of recoverable oil in the Athabasca oil sands is one of the largest known supplies in the world, second only to Saudi Arabia? In fact, the total amount of oil is far larger than what is in the ground in the Middle East, and scientists are working hard to find ways to get at it.

The amount of research and development happening with respect to environmental performance in Alberta far exceeds any other province.

"This is the economic engine of the province, no question," said Liepert. "That said, our goal is to treat Fort McMurray like we treat all the other major centres in Alberta. We look forward to moving this community from being special to being normal."

"You said yourself that we are the economic engine of this province," said one respondent. "The fact that we are special isn't going to go away. We are special and should be treated that way."

It certainly puts government in a precarious position, having to balance the needs and demands of the rest of the province, while placating the region makes the economic wheels go round.

Are we special? Yes, I would argue that we are. Where else do you have to spend $750,000 to buy a nice house? Where else do retailers have to pay entry-level coffee servers $15 per hour? Where else is the rate of growth, and the potential for further growth, as high as it is in Wood Buffalo?

One audience member pointed out that the Americans are looking to us to deliver 7.5 million barrels of oil per day by 2030. Think about how much growth we're going to need to withstand to quadruple our output within twenty years. Does that make us special? It sure makes us different, there's no doubt about it.

June 4, 2010 - 195.2 pounds, 33% body fat

Photo Credit: Carol Christain, Fort McMurray Today, June 4, 2010 - page one

Weight Control & Summer

In recent months, it feels like I've struggled with keeping up with my fitness routine. While I managed to get to the gym almost daily in January, it has whittled down to two or three times a week now--if I'm lucky.

The other problem is that after a long, hot, hades kind of day, when someone offers you a beer it's hard to refuse. I really find that alcohol of any kind does an instant number on my weight.

Lastly, I tend to have a harder time sleeping in the summer, often getting out of bed to read late at night, which leads to eating late at night. Bad, bad, bad. By morning, with not enough hours to digest whatever went in, my weight is off the charts. Ugly!

So, right here, right now, I need to commit to returning to my regimen of not eating after 9 pm. I remember a good friend, now living in England, who said that cutting out evening eating was the key. I'm almost certain he was right.

I weighed myself when I got up and my eyes popped out of my head.

"That's impossible!" I thought out loud as it appeared to have jump three pounds overnight.

I weighed myself again, and a new number popped up, lower but still not low enough. I'm going to try one more time at the end of this blog post and write that number down no matter what -- my penance for over eating and not sticking to the plan.

June 3, 2010 - 196 pounds, 27. 4% -32.4% body fat...you decide, because the weight scale is unsure

Back to the Snye

The first of June marks the opening of the Snye and Clearwater for fishing. So, right after supper last night I piled in my gear, drove the three blocks to the confluence, and got my rod in the water.

"Lee! Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting for you here all winter."

I couldn't help teasing Lee a little bit. He's a Filipino regular who is good-hearted and fishes in the same spot most of the warm months. Lee works for Alberta Power.

Next to me was Lyin, a new fellow originally from China.

"You guys all know each other?" he asked aloud.

"Yup, we're all regulars," I said.

Down the shore a few feet Tyler and his posse were camped out, enjoying some wobbly pops and what smelled like wacky tobacky.

I like this spot for many reasons. First, you're seldom alone. Even in the wee small hours of the morning you're likely to find Carl puffing on his cigarettes and waiting for the big one. Second, the sun shines right in your face, allowing you to work on your tan while waiting for the fish to rise. And finally, the sand feels wonderful between your toes--much more comfortable than the rocky shore of the Athabasca down by the water treatment plant.

Fishing on the Snye yesterday was less about catching anything, though I did--one small goldeye, it's more about coming home after a long and arduous winter.

June 2, 2010 - 195.4 pounds, 28.4% body fat