Welcome to my blog.
This is my creative outlet that could include my thoughts on anything from current affairs, my weight loss quest and things that just make me need to voice an opinion.
Earlier tonight I was visiting my parents at their trailer by Lake Ontario. It was a gorgeous evening for a campfire by the lake.
I had my iPod Touch with me and as a night sky watcher, I also had my Satellite Flybys App installed and handy. It's a cool little gadget that gives you the times that the ISS and other old rockets and space stuff will be flying over your area.
So knowing that the space station would be passing by, I set up my camera on a tripod and waited for it to appear.
Below you will see the results of my effort. Obviously the streaking light is the space station. In the first you can see it passing through the Big Dipper and in the second it is moving away from me. Both photos were 30 second exposures.
I thought you might find them interesting so I figured I'd share them with you.
I don’t know if I’m just paying more attention but it seems as though there have been more planes falling from the sky lately. Every time I look at the newspaper or watch the news on TV, one more aircraft has crashed somewhere in the world.
They still say that flying is the safest mode of transportation but what they don’t say is that you’re less likely to walk away from a crash involving a plane then you are from a car. Of course there are fewer drunk drivers behind the yolk of an aeroplane so at least we have that going in our favour.
Flying isn’t something that I fear although I’m not a huge fan of it. Crashing on the other hand is something that I have a major phobia about. There’s just something about being 35-thousand feet in the air with nothing underneath you in a machine built by people who might have been having a bad day or serviced by a mechanic who forgot to follow the checklist that makes me feel a little anxious.
Of course being a big man, most aircraft seats aren’t really built for me. So the added fear of possibly plummeting to earth while being uncomfortably squeezed into a seat doesn’t excite me either. If I’m going to die, I’d prefer to be as cosy as possible.
I’ve never had any close calls but I did have a scare during my very first flight. I was flying from Toronto to St. Petersburg, Florida with a friend of mine named Doug. Neither of us had flown before and we were a bit apprehensive. For most of the just over two hour flight things went well. We had one moment when we saw another plane outside our window that we felt was closer than it should be. When we commented about it another passenger behind us also remarked at how it seemed odd but no problems occurred.
As we began our descent into the airport for landing we flew into a thunderstorm with lightning visible in the clouds. My anxiety level rose as the plane began to jostle around more and more violently. We had a woman sitting next to us who was a “veteran” flyer who said this was normal and not to worry. Her opinion changed when we hit one air pocket and the plane dropped rapidly sending loose items in the plane flying. It was the most terrifying three to four seconds of my life. Instinctively I grabbed the seat in front of me while at the same time grabbing the hair of the woman in that seat as well. Oops!
We eventually made it out of the storm and landed safely. The woman next to me said that was her worst experience on a plane and I was hoping it would be mine as well. I swear to you when I walked off the plane I got down and kissed the ground. I’ve flown many times since then and all have been much better experiences. The best was when I flew in the cockpit of a Canadian Forces C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. It was a media flight and I knew the pilot so he invited me up to the flight deck. It was so much more interesting and impressive to have that vantage point. Plus, knowing the pilot seemed to put me at ease.
Even keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground is no guarantee you’ll survive a plane crash. Sometimes karma and bad luck play a nasty role. I think back to the recent accident in the U.S. involving an unlucky man jogging on the beach. A small plane was making an emergency landing on this particular beach and the only thing in their way that they couldn’t avoid was this jogger listening to his iPod while having his back to the plane. He never saw it coming.
I guess what it all boils down to is that it doesn’t matter whether you fly or not, when your time is up on this earth there’s nothing you can do about it so I try to live my life without fear as much as possible. You won’t catch me doing crazy things to increase the risk of dying but you can’t go through life worrying about what might happen or you’ll miss enjoying an all too short life while it does happen.
If you believe what you read, the world is getting fatter. I think this is probably true judging by what I see every day. I suppose it all depends on what you consider to be overweight.
I’ve been overweight my whole life. It wasn’t easy as a youngster dealing with the name calling and finger pointing. Kids can be cruel but I eventually learned to accept it and ignore it as best I could. It bothered me more when I was just starting out in school but lasted into and through high school to a lesser extent. By that point I had developed some pretty thick skin and had just learned to laugh it off on the outside. Inside was a bit of a different story.
I never slipped into deep depression as I’ve always been a pretty happy person enjoying life and spending time with people who like spending time with me. There were times when I’d feel depressed but it wasn’t something that I’d dwell on for long. I refused to let others make me feel like less of a person because I was different. Of course, as is common for many people like me, I’d eat more when I was feeling low. It’s a comfort thing I guess.
Dealing with being overweight has always been difficult on many levels. Romances were rare, people I considered very close friends were few but that’s probably normal for everyone. I was actually quite active in competitive sports playing football, rugby, badminton and track & field in high school along with all of the intramural sports.
After that I played a lot of baseball, sometimes five or six nights a week and weekend tournaments. I enjoyed it until I broke my hand swinging the bat one night. That was in 2002 I believe and I’ve never picked up a glove since. I did switch to golfing but bad ankles and knees from a combination of size and physical abuse in sports has resulted in my needing to use a golf cart now instead of walking the course. The uneven ground is torture on my joints.
No it isn’t easy being fat and although I’m happy with who I am I’d still prefer to be a bit thinner. I actually don’t eat a whole lot but my activity level has dropped so it’s tough to shed the pounds. I was recently on a ten day mini-holiday and I lost ten pounds without even trying. Don’t ask me how it happened but it would be nice if it continued.
What really infuriates me about being a person of size is the limited selection of clothing available to me. It’s tough to be trendy when you can’t find clothes that fit and the number of places that actually sell plus-size attire is limited to only one store in my area. In Canada I find it to be almost impossible to find clothes I’d be comfortable wearing, and when I do, it costs an arm and a leg to purchase them. You don’t find Wal-Mart prices at the Big and Tall store. The selection leaves a lot to be desired as well and they still barely carry the sizes that I need.
That’s why I love going to Florida. Not only do I get to see family that I don’t see often enough but there’s a store in Sarasota called Casual Male XL which caters to the plus size man and they have a much better selection of clothing to choose from. For the record, they have stores all over the United States but that just happens to be the one I visit.
I can find sporty shirts, shorts, pants and trendy t-shirts that look good. I even found a golf windbreaker by Reebok the last time I was there that was actually too big. Now the prices still aren’t exactly inexpensive but I’d rather pay a bit more for clothing I’ll enjoy wearing then having to settle for something I really don’t like.
Trust me, clothing is only one of many areas where being overweight can be a pain in the ass by getting in the way of things and living life. I’ll always be fat and I’m OK with that. It’s who I am and who I’ve been all my life but it doesn’t define me and I don’t let it control me. If someone sees me and judges me based on their preconceived opinions of overweight people, they’re missing out if they don’t take the time to really find out who I am.
I am a huge fan of the television show Family Guy. There will never be anything as good as The Simpsons but this show comes a very close second.
Tonight I was watching the episode entitled "Ocean's Three and a Half" where Bonnie finally gives birth after seven years and Joe has to borrow $20-thousand dollars from a bookie to pay for Bonnie's medical bills.
One of the best Stewie bits takes place in this episode as he falls in love with the new baby, Suzie Swanson, and decides to make a music video for her while singing the Bryan Adams song, "Everything I Do I Do It For You."
What I love about the video is that it uses almost every artsy video cliche that we've seen over the years including the block man used by Dire Straits to the room full of candles that Sting uses in a video by The Police.
Any way, this is probably more for my own amusement but if you're interested, have a look. You might get some enjoyment out of it.
After a couple of hours of sitting next to a campfire and looking skyward I came away with a sore neck and about 50 sightings of the Perseid Meteor Shower last night.
In the past as a kid I can remember my dad and I sitting out until three in the morning watching for what was supposed to be an impressive display. It never materialized and we might have seen a handful the entire time.
Last night with little effort on our parts we had a great view of a much more impressive show. Now, it didn't produce the predicted 100 meteors per hour that we heard about on the news but we did see approximately 15 to 20 per hour including some very impressive fireballs.
The only downside on this clear and perfect night for viewing was the fact I was unable to capture a single one using my camera. It wasn't for lack of trying on my part but they just didn't fall where my lens was pointing, or if they did, they were too faint to pick up and not the more impressive meteors.
It wasn't a total loss with the camera as I did manage to get a few interesting photos of the night sky and some star trails as you can see in the photo below.
We interrupt the summer of 2010 for this moment in hockey history.
The heat of summer has been getting to me and I'll admit, I'm going through a little hockey withdrawal with another NHL season still two months away.
I overheard some young men the other day talking about the Team Canada Gold Medal win at the past Olympics in Vancouver and they were saying it was the greatest moment in Canadian hockey history.
Now although it was a great game between Canada and the United States and will certainly rank as one of the biggest moments in Canadian hockey history, I can't say I'd agree with it being the greatest hockey moment for Canada of all-time.
OK, maybe for them it is because they're too young to remember some of the others or weren't even born yet so I suppose they don't have anything to compare it to.
For me, the 1972 series between Canada and Russia was truly a great moment in Canada's hockey history and I would say it most likely will remain the biggest moment of the sport for our country.
However, that isn't my favourite hockey moment. For me, nothing will ever top the 1987 Canada Cup and the final best-of-three game series between Canada and Russia which went the distance and included two overtime games before the deciding third game.
Not only was it thrilling to watch but the game itself was better officiated back then and players were allowed to get away with more which made it more entertaining overall. Of course I can still remember laying on the living room floor with my dad yelling at the TV and cheering as the game was tied late in the third period.
Our nervousness quickly disappeared as we watched Gretzky and Lemieux break out of their zone with about 1:30 left to play and we screamed and jumped to our feet when Mario snapped the puck home for the game winning goal.
That game and that series will always be my favourite Canadian Hockey moment. I just wish I could find all three games on DVD some place to relive the excitement and watch some legends on both teams play the game with passion, heart and guts.
Until I can get my hands on a copy, this goal recap from Game 3 will have to suffice. I hope you enjoy it.
