Her: Beans!

Today, we had our first real "harvest" from our garden - a nice bowl of fresh green and yellow beans, probably about 1lb. I must say, I couldn't believe how good a fresh raw bean right out of the garden tasted - crisp, crunchy, and even a little sweet! I can't wait to have them steamed… Yum!

This is our first garden together, and we've learned a lot so far. It's been really fun so far, even though not everything has turned out perfectly. I think we were a little ambitious at the beginning, because we started planting a leeeetle bit early…. like the beginning of April. That was the first lesson learned, because not everything came up the first time. We had to replant 2 rows of beans, the cucumbers, and zucchini. No big deal here, since the seeds could have been duds as well. It was really exciting to see everything come up the second time. Next came the caterpillars. The darn grubs ate our broccoli, collards, cauliflower, red cabbage, and brussel sprouts (all of which were bought as plants, not from seeds). The broccoli and collards were too far gone to be saved, but the others survived (even with a few holey leaves). Some dust has solved our caterpillar problem. We're also getting an idea of what does and doesn't grow well in our soil/climate. Radishes, which looked like the most promising crop from the beginning, ended up growing way too fast and seeding before the root could even grow enough. Our carrots had a hard time; even after replanting, I think we still only have a handful. Our peppers, also bought potted, are doing outstanding, along with our giant crop of dill, beans, cucumbers, and zucchini. We even have some watermelon and a whole bunch of pumpkin coming up… should be fun! 

We're already catching ourselves planning for next year's garden - how we should rearrange things, and what not to plant. I think we'll avoid the root veggies, and increase our cucumber/bean crop. I can't wait to get our compost into the ground too, which I know will be a big help as well. All in all, it's been a fun learning experience together. Personally, I love watching everything grow and blossom - it gives me a nice satisfied feeling of accomplishment. If only our garden was bigger! 

Eat your veggies (especially beans)!

Him: Homegrown meat and Linkin Park

I'm a little behind the curve on one of the topics of this blog, that being Linkin Park. I was eating lunch today with some colleagues that were visiting and noticed in the window across the hall a new Linkin Park album release. That's awesome! I was tempted to walk right over and buy it right there, but I'll wait a bit; just knowing it exists is exciting enough.

For those of you that didn't know, I'm a huge Linkin Park fan and have been listening to them almost since their beginnings. I know pretty much all their work and try, and I say try, to keep up with how they are doing and what they are up to. Obviously I have been living under a rock and now they have  released a new album just in time for summer! Can't wait to have a listen to it. I'm sure I'll have it in the next few days or at least within the week.

In other news, totally and completely unrelated as well, I was just called today to be told that my beef was ready. This is something I have grown up doing, that is: buying a bulk amount of meat to have for the winter/long period of time. It is amazingly cheaper to buy a quarter, a half, or more of something than to just go out to the grocery store and pick something up for tonight's meal. The only thing it does require is for you to have a large enough freezer to hold it all. Well, that is something I can't live without, the freezer and the food, so I will be going to pick it up tomorrow. It is only a quarter beef, which still equates to a couple hundred pounds. We just finished off our last quarter, which we received in late October. It was delicious.

We do this not only for beef, I also enjoy homegrown turkeys, as well as catching my own fish and keeping some ahead. Nothing like saving a little bit of money, and also knowing exactly where the food on your plate comes from.

-Another great day

Her: Glycemic what?

Many practitioners routinely test for gestational diabetes during pregnancy, typically at the 24-28 week point. The first screening is generally a 1h glucose test that involves drinking a sweet (glucose) drink and drawing blood after 1h. Favourable results are under 130 mg/dl; any higher will normally send you back for additional testing. I had this screening done yesterday, and luckily, I'm in the clear with 121! Good news, but this is up 15 points from my first screening I had 10 weeks ago (I had an early testing because there is a history of Type II diabetes in my family). Because I know I'm a little more susceptible to gestational diabetes, I was watching that I didn't eat too many refined sugars, but I think the heat made me stray off course a little (mmmm ice cream and freezies).


Anyways, this slight "wake up call" has got me thinking about what I should and shouldn't be eating to keep from strolling along the diabetes path. I've always known that Type II diabetes can in many cases be controlled or aided by diet and exercise. This includes limiting (or eliminating) refined sugars like candy and pop, increasing fibre/veg/fruit intake, and increasing physical activity. I generally follow this pattern, except when I crave chocolate! Hehe!


At the same time, I've often heard about a term known as the glycemic index in connection with diabetes and blood sugar, but never really knew what it was. After a bit of research, I've come out a bit surprised. Essentially, the glycemic index (GI), as defined by the Canadian Diabetes Association, is "a scale which ranks carbohydrate-rich foods by how much they raise blood glucose levels compared to a standard food (glucose or white bread)." High GI foods will cause your blood sugar to spike and decline quickly, whereas low GI foods take longer to digest and thus raise and lower your blood sugar at a slower rate, making you feel fuller longer. Many vegetables and fruit are, obviously, low GI, but (this is where it gets confusing) not all vegetables and fruit are created equal, and can have a higher GI than some clearly unhealthy foods. For example, watermelon is considered to have a high GI (~70), which beats out peanut M&Ms (30) and ice cream (50). Wha? This seems to go against everything I've learned about what is considered healthy.


Clearly, GI is a bit of a confusing idea, but you cannot base your diet strictly on eating low GI foods, not all of which are low in fat and calories (e.g. fries have a lower GI than a baked potato). So don't go out and start eating peanut M&Ms and ice cream by the bucket because of their low GI. From what I understand, GI is most important for diabetics who really need to control the rise and fall of their blood sugar, and should only ever be a part of healthy eating habits.


On that note, have a healthy day everyone!

Him: Repeat after me

What a great start to a week. That's sarcasm at its best.

Seems the course I am on is going to make the week feel like a month. Even the instructor said that his preferred method of teaching is repetitive. But I believe in the end I'll most likely learn something. That is the goal at least; I want to broaden my views and deepen my knowledge of EVERYTHING.

Got a new phone today. Must say that it looks about the same as the last one, but a whole lot sleeker and smoother running. There's a link to it here. I've had the previous version, seen here, and if I hadn't dropped it so many times I'd still be using it.  I've had it for almost three years now and not once have I ever had any problems. Great call quality, phenomenal range, and average sound quality. Just had my first call on the new one, and I must say that sound quality is ten fold. Hopefully the range is just as good and I will be happy for as long as this one lasts me. I will make sure that I don't drop this one as many times as the last.

-Another great day

Her: Dreaming of babies

I had one of those vivid dreams last night... you know, the ones that seem to really impact you and stick  in the back of your mind all day. It was a birthing dream. Being 24 weeks pregnant, I'm fairly certain this is pretty normal. However, I'm sure in reality, the birthing will be rather different than what I dreamed up.

I've heard people describe childbirth as "something out of science fiction" to "the hardest WOD you'll ever do." (For those unbeknownst to CrossFit, WOD refers to "Workout of the Day"). For the mothers that have shared their birthing story with me, I understand that it is common to not have the clearest memory of what exactly goes on the whole time. Thank goodness for that, I have to say, because I'm sure one wouldn't really want to remember the pain in that much detail. For some reason, though, whenever I dream of childbirth, I dream that I have this memory lapse. My dreams of childbirth don't have anything to do with pain... the labour is always a blur and then, there's the baby! HA! As if it can be that easy.

The one thing that really struck me in this dream, however, was the act of seeing the baby, this human being you helped to create, for the first time. It was such an overwhelming feeling of joy and amazement. If such a great feeling came out of the dream, I can only begin to imagine what this moment will be like in real life. Something to look forward to...

As a first time mother, I'm trying not to worry too much or have any solid expectations about the actual birthing. I know I will be in capable hands, and I will be taken care of no matter what goes down. Of course, it would be nice to stick to my plan of doing it naturally without meds, but I know that the situation may call for something different. The pain? Well, it doesn't really frighten me because I know it's inevitable and I will get through it (can't be pregnant forever! Haha). I'm more worried for my husband, actually, because I know it'll be hard for him to see me in such pain.

But it will all be worth it in the end, when seeing that precious face makes everything before that melt away.

Wishing you a beautiful day...

Him: IRC - XMPP - SIP

So apparently I'm stuck in the middle of trying to figure out where things are going with chat. Isn't chatting the funnest thing you've ever done? Why does it have to be so darn complicated in the end? I just want to be able to talk to everyone else and them to be able to talk to me.

IRC - or better known as Internet Relay Chat. A not so new protocol, dating back to 1988; wow the internet was hardly even called internet at that time! Go ARPANet. Still going strong of course, as per the link. It can support point to point, group discussions, permanent chat rooms, as well as file sharing/data transfer. Most people remember this protocol being used by a client called mIRC. Of course there are a lot of holes in this software, and potentially has security issues if not well implemented.

XMPP - or better known as Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol. Dating back to 1999 with the introduction of Jabber. I'm sure most of you have heard of this one as you all undoubtably use it or have used it once in your life. Most of you have used it with Google Talk. XMPP has many more capabilities than IRC and is able to be secured with pki-certificates if you so chose to. You can chat one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. And a plus is that you can now add in audio or video. Poor IRC doesn't have that power!

SIP - or better known as Session Initiation Protocol. This is the newest of them all, but not by much, dating to 2002. I know the least about SIP, most commonly used for VoIP, of which Skype has a very similar protocol. Now that Skype has been bought out by Microsoft, they have a new SIP collaboration tool out which is called Lync. Let's hope that Skype still keeps moving forward because I love it and don't particularly want the MS ram hogging programs. One thing about SIP currently is that you cannot have permanent chat rooms. Once you close the chat window, the chat session ends. This is fine for most people, but sometimes you want to be able to keep one chat going and just swap out people over a period of time.

Very technical rant, had an interesting day at work and just wanted to do some offline research and see what I could learn. Seems that SIP is going to be gaining popularity in the near future as it has the largest flexibility and potential. After that, XMPP and trailing behind for those that just don't want to move forward is IRC.

-Another great day

Her: Time

To quote a dying King Henry VIII in the last episode of the TV show, "The Tudors," what is the one thing that man cannot gain back if lost? Not virtue or honour, as those can be gained back with one's actions, but time. Time once gone really is lost forever. Whether or not this quote is historically fictitious, there is a lot to be gained from the lesson of using your limited time on this rock wisely.

Scientifically aside, I think we've all felt the "relativity" of time. I remember that I felt like my first 10 years of my life took FOREVER... and the second decade not so much. Time stands still when you're in the moment, in the zone, whether it be a performance or some kind of intense physical exertion; here, 60s can feel like 30min. On the other hand, being busy can also make the time pass very quickly. My friend and I from university are still looking for November 2005. Many of my "elders" have said that once you hit a certain age (30 or 40), the time just keeps on going by faster. 

I often feel like I never have enough time for everything that I want to get done in a day. I've always wondered if others feel the same way, or if the majority of people feel as if they do have enough time for everything. This most likely has to do with planning and organisation, which I admit, I'm not always the best at (and will devote a blog or two about later). It may just be that I often worry about not having enough time, and waste time worrying, when in essence, I could be using that time to do what needs to get done.

So how does one make the best use of time? Having a little one on the way has made me reflect on how I currently use my time. Does making the best use of time mean being constantly busy with activities that are meant for growth and challenge? For me, I don't think it's necessarily about being constantly busy, which can ultimately drag one down. I believe that making the best use of time, for me, has to do with being present in the moment with the people and activities that give me the most joy.  With this in mind, I have started to make a few changes since I know my time is better spent preparing for the baby rather than trying to make a little bit of cash at an unrewarding job.

Time is precious, especially considering the fragility of life. I often try to think of what it would be like to find out that you only have a few months to live. Would you change the way you would live given this situation? If your answer is yes, then perhaps you should consider making those changes now. I think that this is a good question to periodically ask yourself, to be sure you are living authentically and happily.

Wishing you all fulfillment and joy in your days...

Him: Time

Already a year since the first time I stepped foot in the house we currently live in. Didn't move into it until later in July, but got to look at it this time last year. It was such a blur at that time as well. Having one week to find a house to live in for the next three to four years is a rush. You live and breathe looking at houses for that week, as well as the weeks prior; frantically browsing online.

That is just one example of how time flies. Even just week to week, I constantly find myself wondering where the time goes. Just yesterday, it seems, I was preparing for Easter, or even getting ready for Christmas holidays. But those are long gone of course. What can a person do to keep up?

Take time to smell the flowers. Isn't that what we are supposed to do? With the birth of this blog, I've been seriously looking at the passing of time and what I can do to make sure I take full advantage of it. Just like yesterday, which was Fathers' Day, we could have just sat at home and enjoyed the sun or watched a movie, but we decided to go with our neighbours to an Arts Festival. It was a great time. Sitting in the grass we got to listen to some good local music, as well there was an acrobatics group similar to Cirque doing a show. All around good fun, but if we would have just stayed home, we would have missed it.

Yet to schedule some local fishing time in, but working diligently on that one. Will be doing some fishing with the parents come early July so can't complain yet. As mommy gets bigger, we need to continually ensure that she is comfortable and safe thus, not sure if we will be getting any camping in this summer but we may try.

In all, it is up to the individual to control how fast life passes you by. If you choose to ignore all the little things in life, it will definitely feel like a short time. But, if you take the time to sit down and view your accomplishments, achievements, failures, or otherwise, you may just enjoy yourself a little more and at the same time not feel like life is passing you by.

-Another great day

Him: Blog vs. Vlog

This isn't going to be a long post, I just actually want to get ideas flowing about the evolution of blogs and vlogs. 


I am very intrigued at the notion of vlogging on the internet. Many people have begun to do so either daily, weekly, or something in the middle. It looks like a lot of fun, though standing in the street talking to yourself on a camera isn't always the best look for you. But in the end, you have those live memories captured forever and they will never be lost. Live is definitely a good way of putting it because you now can get a very decent video camera for next to nothing; full HD video and good battery life equals hours of life's special moments captured and recorded. 


I do think that blogging is on a more personal note though. It's hard to just have a sit down in front of your camera and talk to it. Taking the time to write your thoughts, however, has much more meaning and a much more lasting effect. As I continue to write these blogs, I'm know that it is going to help me to voice my opinions better, as well I hope it will broaden my view on certain ideas as I challenge myself to view all sides of the story. 


So far, both vlogs and blogs have their pros and cons. I don't like one more than the other, only the fact that i don't have a good camera nor the time to spend filming myself during the day. But it may come to that someday as the little one approaches and we want to remember those days in vivid colors just like the first time we lived them. 


-Another great day

Him: Games

I'm going to have to say that I have not been playing as many games as I used to, and really it doesn't bother me one bit. I suppose a preface to that would be that I, for the last five to six years, have been deeply involved with a particular online game: ThresholdRPG.

A deeply involved roleplaying game that never stops giving you a challenge, no matter what way you look at it. I started playing this game just out of high school. In the beginning I didn't make much of a deal about it, but one of the most appealing points to it was being able to play it from just about anywhere as it didn't take much bandwidth or time to do stuff. Login/logout whenever you want. I never really played that heavily until later in university and then much more after I finished school. An hour a day quickly slipped into hours a day; we won't go into how many. But for the last five years I played extensively.

What really started to get me was the amount of time I was playing the game when I could have been doing other more productive things. I'm a fairly active person and I am always in need of something to do, else I get very easily bored. ThresholdRPG, Thresh for short, was consuming me and most definitely affecting more than just myself. My parents would call to see how I was doing, and I would continue to play while they talked, being very distracted and disconnected from the conversation. They, in their wisdom and patience, simply would say that they had something to do and would let me go. I also did the same thing to my girlfriend, now wife, whom was living across the country and we only got to see eachother every few months. But still it didn't really bother me. Wow, such an inconsiderate I must be. And I still continued to play.

I never saw the problem as 'that' bad. Yes, we talked about the fact that I played a lot, and that I should prioritise my time a little better; but I was getting all things asked of me done so what was the big deal? Moving out of country and further away from family definitely slowed my playing. We had a whole new world to enjoy and my wife and I were pretty much in a new area alone to adapt. Still played though. Then I got to see the power of games first hand from someone I had known for a quite a long time. I had played games with this person a lot, and got to know them fairly well. But actually seeing their gaming habits made me look, more than once, at what I had been doing. This person had been living a life very similar to mine in the fact that they played games, and I felt that I was playing about as much as them. When I saw how much that actually was and how distracted they were, disconnected from the rest of the people around them when playing, I knew that I had to get a hold of my own gaming.

It took a bit of time, maybe a month or so to delicately ease my way out of Thresh. I didn't want to just leave it, as I have made many friends there and interacted with a number of them on a daily basis. Just disappearing one day without a word would not really cut it. I at least would like to think I didn't leave on a dime. I got a little roleplaying in before I left. Now it has been a few months that I've played for more than an hour, and probably a few weeks that I have not even logged in. I don't particularly miss it and enjoy the 'spare' time I now have to be with my wife and rub her belly and get kicked back by it.

In all, I haven't stopped playing games though. Started playing Minecraft with the neighbours kid. It's a lot of fun and it's more of a let's see what we can do/build today and not a never ending drama of things.

-Another great day

Him: Staying Active

I’ve always been a really huge fan of staying in shape, being active, and generally eating well. I can’t complain much as growing up I was a super active kid that never stood still. As an only child living in a small rural community, where the houses are a few kilometres apart, I had a lot of room to get moving.

Not to get in too deep, but I never considered myself to be an active person. My school days didn’t see me as part of any sports teams; not that there really were any though, and I just enjoyed my time learning things from my father, a forester and carpenter.

At sixteen, my fitness life was in for a big change. I actually thought it was a good idea to get shipped off for basic training for the summer and that getting yelled at was going to be fun. Well, in hindsight I suppose it was, but I also was in the best shape of my life too. I don’t think I had done that many push-ups in my whole life. Five foot five, one hundred and sixty pounds of me! I had lost probably about five to eight pounds during that summer.

Fast forward a few years, and I have been working out on and off, mostly on, and I still feel great. Now at one hundred and eighty pounds, I’m about at my max weight, I hope. I haven’t really fluctuated in the last two to three years. My fitness level, however has taken a jump in the last few months; which is what I was trying to get at the whole time now. I’ve begun the best fitness programme, in my and many others opinion, in the world:

CrossFit.

What is CrossFit you might ask? To be brutally honest if you don’t know what CrossFit is and you’re into staying in shape then get to www.crossfit.com and read up on it. If you do know what it is and you’re not doing it then you’re in denial, scared, or lazy. Hard work in equates to outstanding results out. It’s been since February that the wife and I started doing this and we couldn’t be happier. It’s not something you can just jump into and do the workouts exactly as prescribed on the first day, but you gradually work into them and build yourself up to the challenge. It was actually very good that one of our good friends had been doing CrossFit for six years now, so he’s been a great help and of course motivation.

Staying active now is a fairly simple, both my wife and I are very dedicated to pushing ourselves and keeping fit. Of course, we will all see how this pans out in the next few months as we welcome the newest addition to our wonderful duo. We’ve went ahead and started purchasing some exercise equipment that will complement our CrossFit workouts as well as give us something to do even if we don’t feel like being eaten alive by the WOD.

Goal for the foreseeable future is to continue with CrossFit so that the results can be more measurable. Right now, I can certainly say that I feel much better and know that I am in better shape all around. Seeing the same results in six continuous months, or a year will be very interesting. Just to be clear, I have no intention of stopping this, only to push harder and furhter than I have yet.

I don’t believe I touched too much on diet in this whole blurb, and by the look of it I don’t want to make it any longer than it already is. Therefore, I’ll leave it for another time as it is my intention to at least show a broad view of what kind of junk I’m currently eating.

-Another great day

Him: In The Beginning...

So what better time than this to start writing about life. It's a beautiful sunny 30 degrees Celsius(9am) and I want nothing to do with being outdoors.

Mondays.

Can't complain about them really, I have nothing in life right now that I could remotely not like about it. Amazing wife, roof over my head, stable paying job that has me traveling all over. And lots of vacation too! So why start writing now, well why not. It's about time that life stops moving so fast and I take some time to put in some good footnotes to everything. We'll say it's a good exercise for now.

What will be written here one might ask? Well, that all depends on the day I suppose, and of course the writer! Yep, I'm not the only one going to be writing here, my lovely wife will get a chance to get her jabs in also. We have just recently started out journey together, wow how six years go by so quickly, I'm sure it was just yesterday we met!

I want to use this writing space as a way to get thoughts out there: Points of view, which will most likely be biased at best, but publishing them will challenge me to look at all sides of a topic, not just mine. I'm a fairly normal guy; at least I hope I am, and I am trying to make my way through this world as best as possible. Helping out here, changing things there, and overall try and make this big rock a better place for my family and friends. Eating, exercise, shopping, driving, flying, praying, parenting, sleeping, and everything in between are things I hope to touch on in the future. Not all at once!

This blog will be just as much a journey for me as life is. Once I get my feet on the ground and know what I want to talk about and how often, I hope that many will come to enjoy and take time to read about it. At the same time, I hope to be able to meet some new people and hear their thoughts on things as well. And that will be all for today. Maybe I'll be back for more tomorrow, or the next and we can have a meaningful discussion on something that interests you!

-Another great day