My October Photoshot

Back on October 19th I found myself with the afternoon and evening off from basketball and nothing major to be done for school work so I decided to take advantage of the 'warmer' weather we were having for that time of year and take some pictures. I was inspired with the spot when I had been driving out to the new property my Uncle Georg and Auntie Lynn are building their new house on. It started with me just taking pictures of these old cars, which turned into me stopping at the training tracks, which turned into me waiting till magic hour (sunset) happened on the prairie landscape! I happen to choose this 'quick' outing on the way back from Dr.Z (my chiropractor) and JP happen to be stuck in my vehicle, but he was a champ and stuck it out till the bitter end with me - I couldn't feel my hands or feet but insisted on 'just one more pic' about 10 times. Another reason I wanted to take the pictures was to try and re-teach myself some Photoshop skills because I finally got a real version to put on computer. Needless to said I have not had the time to do so - so just posting them is a feat, besides unedited photo are more authentic right (?) and I have filters on my camera that make for some edited type looks. So here is a few of my favorites.


















Thanks for viewing!! Until next time ....

"Which of my photographs is my favorite? The one I'm going to take tomorrow!" IC (-26)
Mich

Friday Night Notes:

- Winnipeg continues to live up its reputation as being one of the best cities in Canada for a wide variety of quality restaurants. I went with my uncle and cousin to the Peasant Cookery (Downtown Winnipeg). The food was awesome, decent prices, upscale atmosphere without the elitism and mostly local organic food. I would highly recommend to anyone who gets the opportunity to go to do so :)


- I normally would not consider myself a Black Friday type of person but it had a purpose this year so I was pretty excited to get started with shopping. Bought a very special and exciting gift for someone that I'm having a hard time thinking that I have to wait a month for them to open - but its going to blow them away so it's worth the wait!


- McMaster won it's first Vanier Cup in school history, which was not only a great game but no better way to further prove the quality of university sport in our country. Congrats Mac!


- Concluded that I'm not 100% sold on the winter tires concept, I have polled a good amount of people, experienced, non-experienced, good, bad, Manitobans, non-Manitoban drivers and the majority rules that due to lack of hills and the slow pace at which everyone drives here anyways they are just a waste of money. We will see how much Mom can guilt me into getting them ....


Other than the many other thousand things that went on in the world today, there is never a dull moment. I'm taking advantage of this Saturday not being a game day by sleeping in and than getting some major school work done.
Hope everyone has a great weekend. Talk soon.

"Taking time to figure out what the best part of your day was, is an opportunity to be thankful." (-26)
Mich

Finding Inspiration

Days when it seems like nothing can go your way I'm lucky that I have had a great support system of people around me that have either helped me, inspired me, shown me or told me to suck it up. One of the biggest jobs that being an assistant coach for women between the ages of 17-23 is helping them feel that same support - don't get me wrong most of them have great support systems themselves but it doesn't always cover the complex reality of not getting playing time, not getting enough sleep, or balancing school and training. So like any member of generation Y, I search the web for resources, ideas or general inspiration on a lot matters. Here are some recent favorites that have helped; it's always healthy to get a reminder of some perspective or a refresh on why you are doing what you are doing.









Seconds - I Am Second

http://life-engineering.com/

http://espn.go.com/espn/e60/indexId

"If there is no struggle, there is no progress" FD (-27)
Mich

Lookin' for a W

It's not very informative or up to date - but since we play UofW tomorrow I thought I would share a video I made at the beginning of the season. The assistants, Eric, JP and myself, put in a lot of time this summer just trying to refresh the culture of the team and try and make it as fun as possible to work hard. Hoping to give you a full update after our last game before winter break so enjoy this for now ....



"Success isn't determined by your abilities, its determined by your commitment and heart." (-28)
Mich

Ideas Worth Sharing ...

The inspiration from a person who is consistently giving it ....





"Storms make oaks take roots." Pv (29)
Mich

Rekindling the blogger in me ....

(Granite Lake, Ontario)

Laughing at my last post - first line is the famous last words of a typical amateur blogger. Classic "I'm going to start writing more", than don't post again for 5 months haha ....
Well I have had more than a few people nicely tell me I'm slacking, which didn't really bug me till it became an echoing voice in my head which lead to guilt. But why guilt - its my blog, my time to create posts? Than I figured it out ... It's like that feeling of just getting so far behind that the thought of having to catch up just doesn't seem possible (let's not make the obvious assumption that the homework-procrastination-mentality controls my way of thinking). And a little bit of guilt comes from the fact that I like writing and it's probably therapeutic for me considering I spend all day listening to people talk TO me and I'm not encouraged to state my own thoughts; which don't get me wrong I get inspired by or get smarter but some days are long. Anyways this is the official post of "I'm back but don't hold your breath" - I'm completely content with the fact that there is a trillion more interesting things to read on the web so I'm not too worried about disappointing any followers that are left haha.

"Declare your intentions. Silence your goals." SN (-30 days)
Mich

June Sunshine

As usual a post is much over due - but I'm hoping this will become a less used phrase for the next couple of months. I almost have school, basketball and work down to a manageable stress level - I say that lightly haha. I have to admit the warm weather automatically brings a feeling that it's time to slow down a bit and do some fun things totally unrelated to school or basketball or work! (or maybe just do them in the sun?)

The last month has been a grind in the motivation game for me ... Although I don't doubt what I'm doing is what I want to be doing, the end results are consuming my thought process and therefore the 'work' in the middle feels just like that - work! So needless to say a lot of my energy has gone towards trying to keep my head focused and not even on actual results. I'm hoping that some time off from school will help and just believing that sticking to the process will lead to positive outcomes.

With that being said we had a very successful spring ID camp - it was the first dry run for some of the new approaches we have to our program, which went well. From a team perspective we have a long way to go from being a team that can earn a trip to Nationals but the new excitement and commitment to getting better is very positive. I'm doing my best to get better every day as a coach so we have a very positive journey as a team next year.

What else is new ..... Well I don't really have a house to live in at the moment - I was given some short notice that renovations were going to happen immediately in McGill so I needed to figure out what I wanted to do. I probably would have toughed it out but the contractors were staying in the house while doing the work and I knew with school and work that that was just asking for too much added stress. Luckily for me I have a pretty good support group here in the peg and as soon as I said I needed to figure out a living situation I had 5 different options ready to go. Conveniently Eric was leaving for a three week trip a few days after I needed to get out the house. So after a quick discussion of me saying I would cut the grass, get the mail and maybe put some gas in his car he caved and said I could crash at his place while I figure stuff out. Turns out timing can work in wonderful ways sometimes and to be honest I needed the stress-free living situation more than I knew. Needless to say I owe him and his family big-time! What I will do in two weeks is a whole new ball game, but if I have learned anything from moving 5 times in 6 years you can always make a good situation out of nothing (as long as I get a roof over my head haha).

Other than that summer plans are all over the place but in a good way, just have to figure out how to fit everything in logistically. Most importantly, make sure there is mental recovery in there so that I come back to school in September refreshed and energized.
Well that was a slice and I will be back sooner than you expect :).

"The best things in life are unexpected because there were no expectations." EK
Mich

The Big Update ...

Hi All!!
As I sit with the windows open, sun beaming in and the smell of fresh air coming into the house I think my brain is starting to clear away the textbook haze!
HAPPY EASTER to all - I hope you are enjoying the weather, family/friends and great food where ever you are.
Well I have been pretty fortunate to have friends and family consume the last week of my life so I haven't really had time to realize I start school over again in a week - but lets not talk about that for now. So here is the much needed update of the last few months - can't believe I have to start with reading week! haha

1. The past 2 months I have had constant subtle reminders of why I probably didn't NEED to go to Mexico for reading week because I should have used the week to catch up on school …. but I really WANTED to go so …. it was awesome! It was my first time doing some travelling in 'all-inclusive style', and I quickly learned it wasn't really in the same category as the other travelling I have done. It's kind of like behind dropped in a foreign place with a silk screen to cover all the real character of a country. It's not that I will never do it again but I now know when that type of vacation is needed - when you need extreme relaxation and recovery. I mean it takes about 2 days just to get use to the fact that you no longer have to feel guilty about doing nothing all day and than you start to get into the lifestyle of sleeping, sun and food/drinks.
For me I was really lucky to get to catch up with my cousins, aunt and uncle in a very relaxing and happy environment. Which I now know is an amazing tool for putting a positive spin on anything happening in your life - so that was really neat to be a part of! I also got to really test out my new camera for the first time, which was lots of fun thanks to some very patient subjects (hopefully share some of that with you all in the next few posts).
Than with everyone tanned talking about the crazy happenings of the week on the plane, you really only have the plane landing into 2 feet of snow to bring you back to reality - or getting instantly sick from the temperature change seems to be my body's way of telling me haha.
All in all I was very fortunate that my hard work from the past semester allowed me to jump at this opportunity to take the trip and have lots of fun with the family!















2. So as I just mentioned my parents took my obsession with taking pictures to heart and gave me a really sweet birthday/christmas gift - a new camera. They got me a Pentax K-r due to the fact that my dad had one back in the day so the old lens may work with it. It's the perfect one for me, not too complex but has the capabilities to take some really nice pics! I'm just starting to learn how to use it and not even to it's full potential, so I'm hoping the summer will be full of exploring with it :).




3. Coaching is pretty much the most time consuming part of my life at the moment. I was lucky enough to get to go on some professional development focused trips in March (school was in there somewhere haha). I got to experience CIS nationals in Windsor from a coach's perspective which definitely was a little surreal - especially when you are sitting around a table with all these coaches that I only played against a year before. But it was a great experience and I'm glad I got more insight on how things work from a different angle.
Than we finished off our official training with the university team for the 2010-2011 season with a tournament in Grand Forks, ND. It was a good chance for me to coach on my own and get to work on my relationship with some of the players I still didn't know that well because I came onto the coaching staff in January. The tournament was poorly run but we got two good games out of it and it was rewarding for some of the players who hadn't played much during the year to get some key minutes within game context so that they have a better idea of what they can work on this summer.
We also had some good chats, eats and laughs - so team sports at it's core.
Than I topped the PD off with a grand trip to Indianapolis for the women's NCAA final four, where the WBCA holds there annual coaching conference. It was an awesome experience and I'm so glad I decided to go, after much debate if missing the school was going to be worth it. We got to attend on-court demonstrations, coaching discussions on various aspects of the game, guest speakers, product booths and the most exciting - final four practices and games! I suddenly understand why employers sent their employees to this types of things for their particular fields - the amount of passion and dedication that everyone had there for their respected programs and teams was inspiring enough. But on top of that to be remind that being obsessed with basketball 24-7 can be a very rewarding process and bring about so many positive things other than a national championship. And being only a year out from playing getting to feel a part of the weekend was still pretty cool from an athletes perspective! (And if there is still any doubt out there Maya Moore is the best female basketball player ever!) Also getting to watching the men's NCAA final game Bulter vs. UConn in Butler's gym on their campus was a very cool added bonus to the trip.
As I sit here and type this I still get the fire in my gut and excitement about my continued passionate for the sport and that I'm really looking forward to the changes and progress we are going to make this year as a program. I will definitely keep you updated on that one :).






4. With that said most of you are probably thinking or have asked me on many occasions why I'm still in school for engineering. Well for me I have always done better when I have more than one passion in my life. Still believe to this day that I would have never gone to university if it weren't for my success on the playing field and vice versa - and the last month has really reassured that for me in the present. My excitement for coaching has fed my excitement to be in the classroom and by trying to do well in both, it is my hope that I will have success in both. So I'm still enjoying school very much and I'm looking forward to continuing to work towards expanding my knowledge in the profession.
(Snap shot of my exam study spread)


5. And I think the final big update is that I am now a proud owner of an iPhone 4!!!! I am actually infatuated with it - I feel like I hold the world in my hand at all times. And I now find myself tweeting my thoughts to the world - which I have already explained you will never understand until you actually try it for yourself. So basically it has changed my morning routine, now before getting up to go the washroom I check my messages, check my email, check my twitter and than I feel prepared enough to face the day haha - it's like a seek peak as to what the day will bring! (Hint: Have really inspiring or funny people on your twitter and it almost guarantees a 90% chance that your day starts well.)


So those are the major things I should have updated you on long ago. I hope to get back to regular blogging - I'm still trying to find balance in my weekly schedule to be a bit more selfish and do somethings for myself for a few hours here and there. Anyways I look forward to a fun filled summer and sharing it with you all as it progresses. Until next time thanks for reading and I miss you all more than you know!!

"Be intent upon the perfection of the present day." WL
Mich

It's been way to long and I can't even stay ....

Sorry for the lack of updates in the past month - safe to say that I been a bit on the busy side. The good thing about that is that I have lots to write about as soon as exams are over on the 18th!!
Fill you on reading week trip, my new camera, the coaching gigs, school and whatever else comes to mind.
So don't worry I haven't given up the blogging, although my current favorite social networking tool is twitter ... I know what you are thinking but I said I would never use it too but I was converted very quickly once I got a new phone (oh I will tell you about that too!!) that would handle more than just texting haha. So hate all you want but the one liners are just too much fun and the instant updates from anyone and everyone is funny/inspiring/exciting and intriguing.
Until next week - have a good one!

“The best way to finish an unpleasant task is to get started.” A
Mich

Bittersweetness ....

Unfortunately for me my 'freshman' season of coaching has come to a disappointing end. After the girls on the team made huge strides in the second half of the season, we came up short of a playoff spot. We would have loved to redo some of our tough loses from the first semester because we are such a different team now, but that is the hind-sight of sport.
This time of year means so many things for the athletes, deciding how to move forward with their lives, on and off the basketball court, is not an easy thing to do regardless of the outcomes. Some of them graduate, some will not be back next year, and some have to figure how they are going to get better so they can extent their season longer next year. Looking back on it now, whatever they ultimately decide one of the best thing about sport is that it forests us to look at ourselves in different lights; our character, our passion, our goals, our faith, and trust in the process of growing up is challenged everyday. For me I didn't see this personal growth until after I was done playing and its pretty interesting to look at - some of the mistakes are hard to think about and the successes can still make you so happy with just the thought of them. Now it's really cool I learned how to reflect on it, but it also makes you realize you are never done .... get excited about the small stuff but keep the dreams big :).
So what better way to ponder life than on a beach with an umbrella drink in hand?
I'm off to Cancun with some fam-jam for 'reading' week!!!!
Keep you posted :).
"We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves."ML
Mich

Straight No Chaser

If you like Glee and you like a variety of music you will like this group. If you haven't heard of them check out there numerous you-tube videos and/or website.
Below was probably my favorite 'song' from their set list that I just saw them perform in Winnipeg!! None of the videos do actual justice to the performance they put on, so if you get a chance to take in a show I highly recommend :).



"Spread the love, Spread the sound, Spread the Sound" SNC
Mich

Happy Love Day ...

Living on my own in a house were I often remember being being busy with 5 university students has it's ups and downs - it's nice to not feel bad about not doing the dishes some nights but it's also tough coming home to an empty house when all you want to is avoid homework for a little while longer by catching up with roommates. So when I got home last night, I got one of the best valentine's day presents ever, a hand made card from my cousin Carolynn, which absolutely made my day. It made me smile ear to ear and the empty house not so dark - which may have in turn lead to me dancing to some tunes around the house (to avoid homework) but that is a topic for another post haha.
We all have moments of self-doubt, disappointment and discouragement but part of growing up is learning how to get your self out of it. Having people remind you are loved and mean something to them is one of the best gifts anyone can give you. So as much as valentine's day is about cupids and chocolates, I like to think of it as love day haha (corny I know, but hey simple is true). So although the day has pasted, take some time to show love or remind people of why they matter, it is a great thing to do :).
Someone once reminded me that whenever you feel lonely remember that at least 5 people have thought about you today whether you know it or not - everyone has the power to spark a light in someone else life, so don't forget!
So thank-you Carolynn your card couldn't have come at a better time and I'm passing the love around :).

"Someone taught you how to love, and probably didn’t know it - pass it on."EM
Mich

Perspective from down the hall...

Well it's been an eventful month to say the least.

School: Hit me hard, but with my first mid-term down there is now enough pressure for me to start working more diligently at it (only work well under pressure apparently haha). I lighten my course slightly so I could ease my way back into it and I have to be in school for two more years minimum so why overload if I don't have to …
Basketball: Coaching is such a complex art. Between balancing your own life around it and trying to help 14 athletes balance theirs, while remembering that there is a sport buried under all of it - is a pretty daunting task. I'm so fortunate to be given the opportunity for this learning experience so I'm just trying to take it all in and go with it. Some days I feel like I'm 'amateur hour' and others I feel completely confident in what I'm doing. I'm slowing beginning to see the similarities between trying to communicate to co-workers in a different language about a project detail and explaining to first year point guards end-out plays haha….
With that said having the combination of the two extremes - engineering and basketball - works so well for me. One keeps me refreshed for the other … so again I'm pretty lucky.
Other than that, I'm starting to get catch up with friends and family - trying not to tell the same stories or say "well in serbia …" too much. It's been fun sharing my stories and being able to reflect about all the stuff I got to go through and learn while I was away - perspective is an awesome thing to have in the back pocket!
Sorry for just a boring update post but that's it for now … my goal to post more isn't really coming into effect, think I just have to get re-inspired (or just stop caring that I have nothing interesting to post about… I mean when your Mom is your biggest reader everything is game! … right?haha).


“The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” NP

Talk soon, Mich

Return of the Grind ...

Wow … Janurary 2011. Still sounds weird and I don't think my feelings about the year that was 2010 have quite settled … I think 5 year chunks are more my style of 'new-years resolutions' haha.

Christmas time was a great two week period for our family! For the first time in a VERY long time our immediate family was in the same country for longer than 3 days and we had a blast just having a full house again (my mom forgot about how much toilet paper 12 people can use up in one week haha). We were definitely busy, but in a good way. Sean and Suzanne came with Cassie and Emma all the way from Florida, so we took the opportunity to get some traditional Canadian Holiday traditions it! Toboganning was defiantly the highlight for me :). Tyler and Grace came from Ireland, after snow delays they made sure everyone was ready for a 'relaxing' break - warm drinks the head liner!
The Serbian crew came home to some much needed Canadian comforts, aka Canadian beef steaks for Dad and 'nornal' cooking ingredients for Mom haha. Everyone made a trek out to Ottawa to visit the family there. Again we took advantage of the fact that we were all in the same country for once and just caught up and enjoyed the company - great food as usual :). Than we had an all-family New Years, with the Manitobans making there way out to us. Great food and drinks, again! I also had the opportunity to catch up with a few friends and see what everyone was up to. Including a night out in Ancaster, which felt like an unplanned high-school reunion … very interesting haha.


But before I have even had time to consider all that has happened and/or changed in the last 3 weeks, I'm back to the weekly grind of feeling like time is flying and just wanting to get through the next 7 days - but I'm sure this is life for must people :).
A quick update on me …
My time is Serbia came to a decision making end - school or work/'ball'. Knowing that the basketball situation wasn't the best for me I had to take the opportunity to get some school done. So I'm back in Canada, at school in Winnipeg. Happy about it? Well I'm excited to continue to work on my degree and get more school behind me, but this full course load thing is a foreign concept to me (I know lazy athletes eh haha…) so it's going to be a challenging semester - but a rewarding one.
I also find myself unable to give up my passion of basketball at a high level, so I'm helping with the University program. This has been a much harder transition that I could imagine, but I knew that it was going to be apart of coming back to a program that I had invested so much of my time in. I'm really excited to be back with the girls again and be around them everyday, bring some energy to the team and obviously improving my coaching skills.

Although I am back to 'old-stomping' grounds, I feel like my experience changed me. Some need energy, uncomfortable experiences and fresh perspective, I hope will help me shape a 'new-stomping' ground. Not that the old one was bad, but for me life is dynamic and I don't want to settle into a pattern of 'normalcy'. Life is too short and I want to enjoy it :).

So for now I'm challenging myself with school, learning the challenges and demands of coaching, continuing to train and be active, development my professional out look on work and enjoy the evolution of friendships with friends and family.

I'm so grateful for all the friends and family that gave me the unconditional support and guidance as I 'transitioned with travel' and went on questionable adventures haha … another great reminder of all the incredible people that I'm lucky enough to know.
Although it may be late, I wish everyone a happy and satisfying 2011!



"Gratitude is an art of painting adversity into a lovely picture with memories of the heart" JS

Mich

December 6th, 2010

This seems like a good time to reflect on a semester (yes my life still revolves around a school time table, because I have unfinished business there) that has come and gone and is almost at its end.
I can officially say "I lived in Belgrade, Serbia", the feeling of being a tourist officially wore off towards the beginning of November and my daily routines and life around me was getting to a point of normalcy. My Serbian has improved (don't bother pointing out the fact that I had no were to go but up in that department, I feel accomplished with my 5 words haha), my ability to fulling explain myself with exactly 3 hand gestures is excellent and my craftiness to find out if someone speaks english is at it's creative peak! And the ultimate sign I have lived here, I feel confident that if someone wanted to come visit I could 'show you around' - just give me a 2 week heads up and I will ask the right people haha.
But in all seriousness, this experience has been everything I didn't expect but everything I wanted out of it - it was fun, exciting, frustrating, challenging, eye-opening and different. At the moment I'm in the process of trying to figure out what the new year will look like.
From a work perspective, it has been exactly what a co-op is suppose to be about - getting work experience, understanding how the field actually works, and figuring out how you want to fit in with all of it. It has been challenging socially and mentally, with a lot of situations to take lessons away from - with some rewarding times mixed in. It has also made me miss the little luxuries that school provides and gives me some much needed reassurance of why I'm in school in the first place. We just started on a major project, which has been very interesting to see the process from the start. It is a year long project, with the bulk of our companies work beginning done towards the end, so a summer job maybe ahead of me yet …
As for basketball (yep you heard right) I have been training with a team (Partizans) here for a month, which again has been a unique experience, but in true Serbian style I have no idea what to make of it just yet. Playing basketball in Europe was always one of the things I wanted to prove to myself I could do, but I was a little naive about the whole thing (which wasn't all bad). I have been training with the younger team, so the team consisting of the players that get called up if need be, and they have been a really great good group of girls to get to know. At times I feel really old and other times I'm the clueless foreigner that messes up a drill because I have no idea what is going on, either way it has been great to get back into a gym! The biggest challenge is trying to jump the gap from this team to the first team - the practices and intensity are significantly different and the expectations are a lot higher (so when you just start to think you literally understand the expectations, you get thrown a curve ball that makes you question it all haha). Never the less I'm getting lots out of it and it is giving me invaluable experiences and perspectives of the game I thought I knew. On top of all that, whether you believe it or not, sport is sport no matter where you are in the world - there is politics, people that don't understand where you're coming from and factors that athletes can't control that effect their athletic experience. So with all these things consider, I'm just enjoying the moment and the opportunities I have been given, not worrying about the things I can't control and just getting the most out of the experience.
Finally there is school to think about, I bet the phrase "Just get it over with" rings a bell for a lot of people - well I'm at that point now. Working has highlighted the fact even further, that although it is great to do well in school, getting your degree is what matters, because in the working world formulas and theories only get you so far, the real learning begins when all this fails and you have to leave your schooling behind to figure out what the real solution should be.
I'm excited to return to Canada and get to see all the people I have missed so much … not to mention the fresh air and snow! But for now I get to enjoy what is ever felt of this experience and reflect on all the stuff I have gotten to do and all the funny stories I get to share (and re-share).

I hope everyone is enjoying the exciting build to the holiday season :).

"Be grateful for luck. Pay the thunder no mind - listen to the birds." EB
Talk soon, Mich