We Take Too Much For Granted Everyday

Alice Pyne is a 15 year old girl who knows she is running out of time. She has hopes and dreams like we all do - she would have liked to have been a dolphin trainer - but she knows that some of those things will now, in her words, "remain dreams."

I became aware of Alice yesterday when her blog went viral with her bucket list - and one of the things she wanted was to trend on twitter. For me there is something inherently human in this desire to reach out - a need to be known, to be thought of - simply to say "I'm here, I exist, I live... and there's so much stuff that I still want to do." I know to some extent we all can relate to this.

One of the items on Alice's bucket list is to "make everyone sign up to be a bone marrow donor." This is something that is simple for most of us to do and I highly recommend it. I've been on the bone marrow registry for years and I hope that one day I might be able to help someone, like Alice, to keep on working through their bucket list and to live all of their dreams. In Canada you can start the process HERE. In the United States go HERE. For everyone else, google "bone marrow donation" and your country and it should bring up the program you need.

Another thing Alice challenges us to do is consider what it is we are putting off doing and why. If something is important to the way we want to live our life then we should start making that a priority and look for the opportunities we need. We're all relatively guilty of getting bogged down in the mundane daily tasks we feel responsible to participate in and we always put things off because we will get around to them, eventually. But what happens when you run out of time? As Alice asks in her blog profile - "If today was your last day on this earth, how would you spend it?"

It's worth some time today to ponder that question, right after you sign up for the bone marrow donor program in your jurisdiction.

We are all running out of time, just most of us don't know it. Keep on dreaming, my friends.

There are snails in my belly

I pursuit of my goal of eating five new foods this summer I have thus far tried camel, boar and today, escargot. I need some suggestions on what to try next as I am running out of summer. It should be foods that I could actually eat in Canada and I'd prefer no one suggest bugs. The snails were hard enough for me to wrap my head around, even covered in cheese!

Assuming that I have eaten all the regular western diet foods (Canadian and British), I've compiled a list of meats I've had already: Elk, Bison, Venison, Caribou, Moose, Emu, Ostrich, Llama, Alligator, Shark, Lamb, Mutton, Rabbit, Squid, Octopus, Goat, Duck and Pheasant. There was also a cat "incident," but I don't usually talk about that.

I usually am quite interested in trying anything new at least once, so don't be afraid to suggest more than two things.

My Summer Bucket List

Inspired by Duncan, Alex, Andy and James, I too am putting into writing a list of things I would like to do this summer.

Albertan summers tend to be too short (imho) so you need to be organized to make the best of it. In addition, this summer is already getting quite full with the kid's activities so more than ever I need to focus to ensure we don't lose a moment. Obviously my summer activities will include supporting Duncan in his stated desires but I won't re-list anything he's already posted and hopefully my list won't create any conflicts time wise.

It's fair to say that since we have a National Park Pass this year I have been more focused on spending time as much time in our National Parks as possible, which you will note as a theme in the bucket list. So without further explanation, here is the list:

Visit the Fallen Four Memorial in Mayerthorpe
Pilgrimage to Lac Ste Anne
Experience a Train Robbery
Visit Waterton National Park for the first time
Visit Spirit Island in Jasper National Park
Visit Banff National Park
Canoe on Lake Louise
Watch a Meteor Shower at Elk Island National Park
Do a 5km Running Clinic

Less specific desires (but still important):
Go Camping/Hiking (maybe in Lac La Biche)
Get my bike fixed
Spend most of my lunch hours outside
Lose another 10-15lbs (by September 2010)
Try five new foods (I've never tried escargot!)
Continue to photograph Alberta's Grain Elevators

It's worth mentioning as well that I've already hammered off some great things this year, like visiting Vancouver and Victoria, our road trip to Jasper, having a photograph published and losing 55lbs! I'll write more about my diet later and if I can bear it I will post before and after pics for comparison.