Saturday, March 22, 2014

A different sort of "Facebook Nomination"

I was taking a scroll through my "Facebook Timeline" a few days ago and noticed a bunch of women posting photo's of themselves wearing no makeup and nominating friends to post the same kind of photo via a "Nomination"

I then stumbled across my cousin Stephen P.'s  Facebook page and saw the following post :

"Someone nominated me for the "photo with no makeup" thing....has to be a mistake. So, i started my own nominating trend: "post a photo of yourself looking disgusted at your own flatulence"

#fartsmellnomination

On the bottom of this post was a "Challenge" to myself & a few others  to post the same sort of photo so OFCOURSE I accepted, this started a chain of photos and for those of you who are sick of looking at the "No Makeup" photos have a look at these and feel free to submit yours.

Here's mine : 
#fartsmellnomination















Wednesday, March 19, 2014

What does 10,000 calories look like?



Yesterday at the gym I passed a milestone which was burning 10,000 calories in total on the treadmill. I usually do 5KM three times a week on my “Cardio Days” and usually burn 500-600 calories in the 49:00 it takes me to walk 5KM.

The machines I use at Anytime Fitness allow you to log in and track your progress so as you can see in the below photo it took me 17 hours on the treadmill to pass this mark. It got me thinking about how hard I’ve worked to do that and about some of my favourite treats that “Old Dave” used to consume on a very regular basis. So what does 10,000 calories equal?

If you wanted to consume 10,000 calories you could consume any of the following :

75 bottles of Budweiser Beer

18 Big Macs from McDonalds

20 orders of McDonalds Fries (Large Size)

33 bottles of Coke

20 Extra Large Tim Hortons Coffees

23 Bagel B.E.L.T’s from Tim Hortons

37 bags of All Dressed Potato Chips

9 Large Dairy Queen – Oreo Blizzards

21 slices of Meat Lovers Pizza from Pizza Hut

18 Fully Loaded baked potatoes from Wendy’s

105 strips of bacon

116 Chicken Wings - Note I used to go to a “All You Can Eat” wing night on Thursdays for 9.99 the scary thing is I used to consume about five lbs of wings on any given Thursday. That would roughly be about 5000 calories not to mention the amount of alcohol I would also consume would be about 6 or 7 pints of beer so that would be almost 6000 calories on one evening. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about that but when I look at the above list I know I’ll never go back to eating garbage like that.


If you want to keep track of my progress on this journey you can follow @Lose4food on Twitter or keep on eye on The MAIN BLOG PAGE.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Homeless People Are Not "Creatures"

After reading an article in The Metro Calgary about a Face book page started by high school kids that posts photos of videos of homeless people in Calgary,   After working closely with the folks at V.E.T.S Canada (A group which provides assistance to homeless & at risk Canadian Veterans) seeing the posts on this page made me sick to my stomach at the way these people who are just as human as you and I were being portrayed on this public site.

The original page was deleted by Face book but they’re back with a new page called “Creature Sightings” which the caption for the group says “funny pics of indigenous intoxicated interesting individuals”


The saddest thing about this is that everyone on this page doesn't look over twenty years old and they all think these photos and videos are great entertainment at the expense of others misfortune.
I’m in downtown Calgary just about every day and often pass about ten or more homeless people just waking a stretch of five or six blocks.  So the same day I had read this article I decided to walk around downtown Calgary for a few hours and have some conversations with these “Creatures” as the page so describes them.

I first talked to a guy named Joe who was shocked when I asked if I could sit with him and have a chat.  He first was shocked that I wanted to chat with him but we talked for about fifteen minutes.  Joe and his wife had split up after he had been laid off from his job due to cutbacks and when his wife threw him out he decided to live out of his Van for awhile.  He said he had tried going to shelters but would be attacked and have his personal items stolen.    He said to me "If you are not dirty people give you this horrible look like you are a liar or a fraud."  

I asked Joe if he had any family he could contact.

“There is my mother, but she is looking after my little sister and they barely make enough to put food on the table already. I don’t want to make things even harder. That’s what it means to grow up. You have to look after yourself. I know I’m not in a great place now, but I’ll find my feet.”

I gave him a contact number of a friend of mine that manages a warehouse in Calgary who is always looking to give people a chance at a new start and I could see his eyes flood up.    Joe is not a creature, Joe is a human that had a tough break and I have no doubt he will “Find his feet”

Over the next hour I sat down with five different “Homeless Creatures” (As the Face book site referred to them) and none of them had the same story.    One used to be a mortgage broker, Another worked as a professional musician for 25 years.  I spoke with a guy who used to be a truck driver throughout Canada & USA who got addicted to drugs & alcohol and ended up losing his job, his home & his family.

The only common thread was that they lacked a community and shared a reserved and wistful smile that held the memory of better days and a distant hope for the future.

It’s kind of ironic that when you watch the news & view social media that everyone is “Taking a stand against Bullying” yet the same people that are probably wearing their pink shirts on a given day of the month are posting photos on these pages and laughing at the misfortune of others.

A quick search of similar Face book pages brought up several results across Canada with the same “Public Shaming” theme attached to them.  As an example “Only In Hamilton”

The next day this article & their Face book page was still bothering me so I decided to spend a few hours the next day handing out Tim Hortons gift cards not just to “Homeless People” but to random strangers downtown who were walking around looking like zombies on their smart phones or a look on their face like if they smiled their face might crack.  I am not one to post things looking for a pat on the back from anyone however I strongly suggest others might do the same sort of thing.  You will be blown away at the stories and reactions that you receive.

Dave M. – Calgary, Alberta

If you would like to know more about V.E.T.S Canada and they work they do check out their website by clicking the link on the photo below.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE V.E.T.S CANADA PAGE

Sunday, March 9, 2014

"You will soon witness a miracle"

I don't usually put much thought in to what I read on a "Fortune Cookie" but this one stuck in my mind for awhile now.  A few months ago after having Chinese food I received this as my fortune cookie at first I thought it might mean that my beloved Toronto Maple Leafs were going to win the Stanley Cup but shortly after I realized it was going to be about something else.


A month later I found out me and my lady are going to be having our first baby in July and I got to see this on a ultrasound.


Seeing that little life moving around on the screen and hearing a heart beat for the first time was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life and I can already say this fortune cookie has already come true.

Around July 15th I'll become a dad for the first time and I can't wait.


Sunday, March 2, 2014

Breaking News : It's Sooooooooooooo cold



One Week Ago : As I tune in to the seven day weather forecast on my local news channel and look at the temperate over the next week I know it's coming.......  "The Cold Complainers"

If you have a look on Twitter on any of the Canadian airport codes (#YYC, #YYZ, #YEG ect) you will see a constant flood of people whining and complaining about the cold weather and how much they hate living here.

Well BREAKING NEWS we live in Canada, we live in a place where some days the wind hurts our faces.
I guess maybe this post makes me a bit of a hypocrite for complaining about people complaining but I think we're getting weak in this country.

Growing up in Newfoundland I used to love getting "Snow Days" but now if we get anything more than a forecasted 20-30cms of snow it's called "Snowmageddon" or "Snowpocalypse" and Twitter & Facebook explodes with photos of Snow dooms day across the country.

Now don't get me wrong some of the "It's So Cold........." Tweets are pretty entertaining but most people act as if the Zombie Apocalypse is happening outside.  Here are some of my favourites I found in the last 24 hours on Twitter

"It's so cold in #YYC Alison Redford has her hands in her own pockets"
"It's so cold outside the prostitutes on 4th Ave are selling hand warmers"
"It's so cold outside that members of Calgary City Council can't even get in a heated argument"
"It's colder than both my ex wives combined out there"
"It is so cold that when I walk out the door it's like automatic botox."
"It's so cold that flasher in the SW was seen describing himself to women"\
"I blame Canada for this cold weather we're getting, can't we weatherstrip the borders?"


AND The winner is : 
"Its so cold that I "keyed" the side of my car with my nipples while clearing the windshield"

Honestly though this post is all in good fun, people will complain and people will complain about those who complain to much but hey no matter what the temperature is we still live in the greatest country in the world and remember

#WEAREWINTER

right?






The world needs more people like this

As someone that takes Calgary Transit to work every day I see a lot of things some good, some bad and some amazing such as the story I’m about to talk about.

There’s a gentleman on the bus every morning who is “Special Needs” and he sits in the same spot every day by the back door. Every person that passes him he says “Good Morning, How are you” to them and he’s usually given a strange look or ignored. This doesn't matter to him as when they get off the bus he says to them “Well then, have a great day and remember to smile”


Something so simple yet not even noticed by 99% of the people passing him on the bus.

Every day I pass him I say back to him “How’s it going” and give him a head nod and when I get off the bus I respond to him with a “Same to you”

Last Friday I decided to sit next to him and he seemed shocked. I started a conversation with him and asked him “So just curious as to what makes you want to say hello and good bye to every person that gets on and off this bus” he says “I just like to make peoples day and if I can make someone smile or laugh then I have done my job”

I got off the bus gave him a fist pump and told him to keep up the good work.

Every day that I get on the bus now he greets me with a “Hello Mr Big Guy” and gives me a fist pump and a “have a great day” when I get off the bus. I had won a free coffee on Roll Up The Rim and decided to give it to him a few days ago and it was as if I had just given him a brand new car. He said “I’m going to get this as SOON as I get off this bus, Thank You so much”

On another occasion it was a chilly -40 and there was an older gentleman sitting at the front of the bus. Every person who got off the bus that night got a “Make sure you stay warm and have a great night” so simple yet most people who weren't too busy looking at their phones or had their ear buds in smiled and nodded back.

The world needs more people like these two guys.

As someone who was raised on the East coast it doesn't matter where I am in the world when I pass someone on the sidewalk I say “Hello” or “How’s it goin” even if they look at me like I have ten heads it doesn't matter to me.