Dark Poetry on an empty stomach

"My hunger
creeps out from underneath me, subjecting me to the void within.

I cannot, shall not
further endure this desparing moment much longer.

Feed me my medicine, and cure me of

my sickness."

-on being hungry at work and waiting for lunch time.

Into the Unknown

I miss writing on my blog. The open loop of posting on the internet serves no other purpose than to share my life with the world. If those that read care about what I do, it matters not. The wonderful thing about the internet, at least where I live, is that it is accessible to everyone. There are no chokes or limitations to what is out there. And the amazing thing is that the internet connects all of us. Think back to 10, 15, even 20 years ago, when our evening were not spent gazing down at the glow of a phone or staring in to the abyss of a screen. What did we do? It's honestly hard to remember how a Sunday evening would be spent. Today, with the tap of a screen, I can catch up on news around the world, check sport scores and buy my next outfit. That kind of thing did not exist years ago.

People often call the old days "Simpler Times". Perhaps they were, in that simplicity was due to focusing on what was tangible around you and not some network of invisible people and things. We weren't able to so easily distract ourselves. I believe that now, in our day and age, that life is much simpler and easier, yet more complicated. It's kind of a contradiction, I know. Everything is convenient to us. We can get pretty much instant gratification from anything, anywhere, yet we are also isolating ourselves to the world around us by making it more accessible. I can openly write on my blog about whatever I want and someone from Istanbul or Idaho can read it within seconds of me posting it. That didn't exist. Previously, I would have had to magically find a way to get in contact with one of those people and send posted mail out to them, wait for weeks for a response, and continue the cycle. Now I can converse freely and instantly. It's kind of weird, and a bit of a mind blow. It makes the world seem so very small.

That's why I like to shut down and get out there. That's why I enjoy doing the things that don't involve using Google maps to find direction. It makes the world seem big again. There is a lot going on right now on our planet, more than I can imagine. I can read about it, see it live, hear about it and make comments on it. Then within a day or two, it passes and the next thing happens. We always seem to rush through to the next thing, good or bad. At least I do.

So why am I writing all of this? I have no idea. I wanted to resume my blogging, since I miss it so much. Perhaps this is a segway into that adventure for myself. A first step. I'm not a brilliant person, I don't do brilliant things and don't have brilliant advice. But I do like to live and enjoy life. I like to get out there, to remind myself that there is so much to see, do, and it's a wonderful feeling to feel like you are a tiny spec of insignificance on a whirling orb of rock, dirt and chaos in a vacuum of unknown.

Standing atop of Yamnuska this past July

Fishing in Clearwater

I'm not trying to catch up. I'm not trying to show off what I've done. I'm just blogging. Here goes.

A few months ago, I was on one of my last business trips (with my then employer) in Florida. I had been there countless times since 2011, and I had never been deep sea fishing. Also, one of my "bucket list" items is to be on a boat and look around 360 degrees and not see land. So I guess I was due for a fishing trip.

A quick Google search helped me find Queen Deep Sea Fishing from Clearwater Beach. A red flag went up for a tourist trap, but I didn't care because I wasn't looking for the authentic deep sea fishing (and I was playing tourist). I just wanted to polish some items off of my list. There were 4 hour and 8 hour trips, the latter being far more deep sea than the former. However, I was with coworkers and they weren't up for a full day of fishing (or getting up at 5am to get to the boat for an 8am launch). So off we went. I GPS'd the adventure, even though they asked us not to. Rebel Canadians...

Pelicans from the docks at Clearwater Beach

I'll bet that this boat went pretty quick.

These lucky bums get to live right on the harbour!

Sailing always has appealed to me. Luckily, I don't have to go all the way to Florida to sail.

First catch, and it was a yellow tail, I think. I'm not a fishy guy.

We mostly caught grunts. They were good eating :-)

Easy fishing. Toss in a hook with some bait, pull out the fish. It restored my faith that you can actually catch fish in the water.

Mighty hunter can provide for his family now.

We were about 7 miles off shore, so....

....the coast was still visible. Bucket List item: Incomplete.

This bird's name was Furuno. I think...

Fishing trawlers off the gulf coast.

I thought it would be deathly hot and humid out, but it was a pleasant day. We had shade on our boat, which was really nice to keep from dehydrating.

The community fishing catch. There were about 90 people on board, and there were lots of fish caught, most of which NOT by me. Someone even caught a pufferfish!

The three of us caught about 12 or 14 fish! They fried up nicely.

This was my catch!

These were the fish that the 8 hour trips caught. Much bigger (and possible next time).

The crew from the boat cleaned all of the fish for us! That was really nice, but I would have liked to do it myself.

The next day, we had a fish fry.

The fish fried up really nicely with blackening spices. It was super tasty, made all the more tasty by the fact that I had caught the fish myself!

All in all, it was a fantastic experience with delicious results. I didn't knock the items off of my bucket list, I just whet my appetite even further. I'm always glad for new experiences, and I now believe that fishing and actually catching something is possible. It had been probably 15-20 years since I had last caught something...

:-)

XC Skiing in Bragg Creek

Well, I finally made it out to do something interesting. Not that everything I do is uninteresting, but I'm sure most blog readers do not want to hear about my day working at Solidworks, or what I had for lunch, or driving to Edmonton to attend an association meeting. Yesterday, a friend and I headed out to West Bragg Creek to do some cross country skiing. GPS data can be found here

I have not been out West Bragg for some time. I've actually not even been out to Kananaskis since prior to the June floods. Gack! I need to get out more. This is so close to where I live, less than 30 mins. This is the road just west of Bragg Creek, and Moose Mountain is in the background.

There weren't many skiers out yet, as we had an early start. But there were tracks set in the snow (for the most part). 

This is along the Crystal Line trail, a straight cutline with some great downhills and challenging uphills. It was a lot of fun.

Outside and loving it!

The snow was fantastic. I had not yet been out on my skis yet this winter (gack!), but my former skills came back quickly. I only "inspected" the ground 3 times at key moments.

Along the trail back, the winds really picked up and it made for some interesting skiing. There were eddies of snow everywhere and with the wind at our backs, we were pushed back to the start.

Upon returning to the trailhead, the parking lot was filling up with lots of people.

Lots and lots of people!

 It was a good jaunt out in the snow. Temperatures were around 0, so nice and warm for high output activities. The wind was a factor, and if you stopped, you would get cold. But the beauty and thrill of skiing kept me moving! It was a great outing, and I cannot wait to get out again!

:-)

.

Moon Joggers - Blast off to Venus

So a friend of mine referred me to a group that is collectively running to the planet Venus. Yes, you heard correct. Venus. The lovely planet of toxic gases, extreme temperatures and goddess of beauty. Last year, this group, aptly named MoonJoggers, decided to run to the moon, and together they pooled 557,000 miles (896,770 kms) in less than a year. So they made it to the moon and back in less than a year. That's pretty cool. Check out their video below.

This year, 2014, they are trying to collect 25,000,000 miles (40,250,000 kms) to run to Venus. I have opted to take part. Why not hey? After all, running is all about community. At least it can be. There are several membership options and you get some pretty cool swag, but I opted for the free membership. If you do pay, money goes towards Little Heroes Foundation charity.

So sign up, why not? There are many different distances to commit to. I committed 1000 miles, and I know that is achievable as I am training for my first ultra marathon this year. Yeah, I've said that before, but I want to complete this goal before I turn 30 (this June). I have a few races picked out however I have not registered for anything. I want to get my training at least a month in before I do register.

 See you all in outer space :-)