With my side job, as the Golden Active Transport Coordinator. I just realised that i have the power to change peoples lives. That is huge. I am totally scared by the possibility, and thrilled by it at the same time. I can do many things that will impact everyone from Children to adults and seniors.

Changing the way that people move around the town is no small feat. However i was just looking over some notes from a meeting that i recently had, and am very excited for the future of the kids and adults in Golden. Things are starting to change, slowly but change is coming.

So it has been a while. I have been super busy with life. Working my 2-3 jobs, relaxing with my lady. Travelling around Canada and the Globe, it takes its toll on you. I am a second time uncle again, to another little boy. I think i am expecting a little girl soon, from my other sister, which should be super cool. Who knows one of these days i might even gain the balls to ask as well. Time will tell.

I have a super cool new job, well it is only part time or casual but still super cool. It is a job designed to increase peoples use of there bodies, yup active transportation. So it means getting people out of cars and onto foot and bike and any other means. Anything but using the car, it is really interesting and i am looking forward to the challenges that it provides to me. I am planning on having a meeting with my boss and see where she wants me to go. If it is an open slather kind of job, then i will have my work cut out for me. If i have to play a roll in getting people out of cars, that would also be awesome. I would love to see more people out of there trucks and walking and biking. The winter so far has been very mild and it is great to see the number of people we already have. I would like to have more.

Apart from that exciting news, not much more has managed to happen here. Life is moving along quite nicely. I can’t wait for summer and spring to really start cause then we can start growing veggies and stuff. Yum!

Also i have done some admin stuff on the site, so now it is optimised for mobile devices as well. Sweet stuff!

Well i told you how i was moving? I made my mind up and was happy with the decision. Then i got an email

“Hi Luke,

The Community Foundation is nearing their Annual General Meeting in April where some Board Members will be completing their 2 year terms. As you are very community-minded, I thought that you would be a great fit with the Foundation. Have you ever thought about joining? The time commitment is one meeting per month.

There are also opportunities to sit on the following Advisory Committees, whether you’re on the Board or not:
1. Management
2. Marketing & Communications
3. Youth
4. Grants

Let me know if you’re interested and we can talk more.”

I know what your thinking. Holy shit! That is awesome. Congratulations! Yeah, that is what i thought. Then i remembered that i am moving. So it turns from a holy shit to a holy fuck! Why!! Why!!

I do still want to move though. So i am going to turn down the opportunity and move. It sucks balls that this is happening now, but hopefully i can get on a board when i am all settled down in some place. Who knows what that place is though, only time will tell.

So this week for me has been a week full of thinking. What have i been thinking about. Well i have been thinking that i don’t want a mediocre relationship. Not that i have one, but i don’t want something that just trudges along. I value both parties to much to do something like that. I want to know that i am valued by and value the lady that i love.

What brought this around? Well i was meant to tell my boss this week that i am leaving, and that i am moving down to the coast. I feel bad having to tell him that i am now leaving. It is kind of a sucky move. I am looking for a replacement now for me. It is hard to find people in this town.

Also another thing that might have brought this on was, watching Family Practice, the spin off from Grey’s Anatomy. So i was watching the episode that the two black people had just broken up. They were wondering if they should be together, and the guy came to the conclusion that he only wanted to be with her cause it was easy. That he was only with her before cause they had a kid together and things were simple and no worries etc. I think that is the message they were trying to put anyhow.

I really do love this town, Golden. It has a special place in my heart and i will miss it immensely. I know almost 1/3 of the people here, and feel like i am a real part of the community. Like i can make a difference. Something that i have never felt before in any other town that i have lived in. In one regard i don’t want to leave as i wonder if i will still like Canada as much as i do now.

I am trying to think of reasons why i am scared. I think that with saying that i am leaving work, that it all becomes real. That i am moving for love, to follow my heart. Something i really haven’t done in, well ever. I have said it many times, but this time it feels different. That scares me. What does the future hold for me? I am not sure, i don’t even want to think about it at the moment. I am only looking to the next even, moving to Victoria, BC. That is far enough for me to be thinking.

I went to an active transportation forum tonight. Seeing that i can’t sleep and am excited about it, i thought that i would write about what i know and learnt tonight. So what is active transportation? Well it is basically anything that uses the body for motion, walking, riding, skateboarding, roller blading, wheelchairs etc.

The idea is to create communities that can use these functions much more easily and thus rely less on the cost and associated problems related with car usage. It’s not about saying that cars are bad, boo cars. It is about saying, hey this lifestyle that i lead is unhealthy. I should be getting at least 30 mins of exercise a day but I’m only getting 2 mins. I need to do something about that. It is about making us less reliant on oil and more healthy and dependable on ourselves. I like the idea, it sure makes me think that it can be done, not only that, it must be done. The example was errands, how many times have your driven to the shops, only a few blocks away instead of riding, or walking? Sure it was convenient but how much CO2 did you put out into the environment, to save you that 10 mins?

The average American walks 800 metres a day!

That is a stunning and shameful fact, Canada is not far off. So i am very interested in seeing how much I can do in Golden to change attitudes and regulations. What can be done to make this situation change? How can things in Golden change?

Studies were put forward stating that if nothing it done about this that the cost of helping all the people that are obese in relation to BMI (Body Mass Index) the health system is going to crash, along with everything else. It is not a matter of if’s it is a matter of whens.

Children need 90 mins of activity every day, yet somehow they don’t get it. Instead they get over 5 hours of TV a day. How does this add up? It doesn’t it just makes me wonder and resolvant to make sure my kids are fit and healthy regardless of where they live.

It does sound like a lot of dooms and glooms, but in reality, its the truth. The investment now is really a long life investment for the future. North America is 20-30 years behind Europe. There is lots more going on there about biking and active transport than is even being considered here.

To finish up i am giving you some links about Active Transportation, so you can see just how important and relevant it is today and in the future.

Active Transportation dot org

Public Health Canada

Travelsmart

It is has been quite the boring and uneventful week. Nothing so far has gone on. 1 thing that has occured is i went for a hike on Sunday. It was awesome fun, i will have to post some photos on Flickr some time soon. Once i get them off the camera. I went with Heather, up to Emerald Lake. It is an amazing lake, just like you would expect on a postcard. It is only around a 40min drive from my house too. Hehe, i love where i live. We then started the walk around the side of the lake, and ended up taking the walk upto the Emerald Basin, that is where there are large mountains, and coulairs etc. It really was nice, long way up too. We were estimating that we gained loads of elevation in our short walk. Around 200ft we think, maybe more. The pics tell a better story.

Heather and I had some good talks, just about random crap, and catching up. Something we hadn’t done in a long time. Both of us were quite busy over summer. Good thing i enjoy her company as a friend, cause i am going travelling with her around the world. Only 53 days till we leave!!! Woot!

The total hike took around 5hrs which isnt to bad, seeing that we had lunch and a look around, stopped to pick rasberries. We did only meet 1 other group of ppl on our trip up the mountain side. So cool. They had a dinner bell on, aka bear bell. We didn’t take any bear spray with us, maybe i should get some. I just think that if the bear is there, and wants to eat us. Nothing will stop him. So far i haven’t even been close to a bear. I make noise as i go along, so that should give them fair warning that im coming.

So that is my update for the last little while.

Well i may say i had a great weekend in Calgary. One of one 2 such occasions. Bike polo was the reason this time. It was the most fun i have had on 2 wheels in a long time. OMG, if you own a bike this is next thing you need to try. If you don’t then you need to try it. It is the best thing on 2 wheels!!!!

So if you dont know what bike polo is, search it on Youtube, and you will find something. The centre of the bike polo universe is well, anywhere you damn well want. check out Bikepolo.ca for links to other groups of people that are into it as much as you should be!

So the tournament as a double elimination type game. Meaning that you needed to lose 2 times before you were out of the comp. 3 on 3. body on body, mallet on mallet, bike on bike. Drop a foot and you have to tape out at centre. On a hockey court it is quite a large amount of time to do that. Those guys in calgary know how to move a bike around the court, geez they can move. I was skidding around the place trying to stop the ball.

Got in there a few times, need to work on my accuracy though. I missed a few easy shots, which could have put us up a few goals. Meaning that we could have had some more games, oh well. accuracy will come later on.

I am really happy that bike polo is around. It is soo much fun, i just wish that everyone else could experience it. If your in Golden, come out to the BBall courts on Sundays and Wednesdays.

Well we had the first townie bike race of the season. It was a poker hand type race. Where you have clues that you have to follow and then get a poker hand card at each spot. I ended up with nothing. However the good thing that was i came first in the sprint home. It was awesome, everyone was slow off the mark. And good old Franklin was fast and strong to pull thru. It was cool. The victory prize however was funny. It was a sticker book, with no sticker! hello, i wanted stickers. Alas i didn’t get any.

Apart from that selection of fun, i have been working steady and should exceed my savings goal by quite a bit. So that is awesome. 2 jobs really helps you to save.

Just wanted to post something short and fun.

This film won the first Annual Golden Film Festival. It is funny and i know both the shooter and deer. Check it out.

Well lots has been going on recently. Well in Golden Terms, it has. Things don’t move to fast over here but some how i have been really busy. I went getting my fill of cultural goodies over the last week. I went to the golden Broadway musical. It was really fun, with various songs from different musicals being sung. I knew about 1/2 the cast so it made it even more fun. I then went out after and had some fun listening to a beatboxer, then proceeded to go and stay up for 24hrs and chat with some friends watching various clips from Youtube. It was quite the night. I was buggered after though and slept for a full 5 hours! Awesome.

The next night i didnt do much but i did manage to go for a 20-ish km run. I just mapped out out. i didn’t think it was that far. It didnt take me long either. only around 1.5hrs. Im very surprised. Anyhow i’ll link to the map so you can see.

So there it is .

Then on Monday night, i went to the ballet. It was really good. The chicks were hot, the dudes were really strong. And it had a bit of everything. I would go again and plan to as well. It was a production from Ballet Kewlona. It was good fun with the Hudson’s. I wasn’t planing on going but did cause i had nothing else to do.

So that is my summary of weekend, quite fun and exciting.