Lyrics that have meaning

Like I have posted before, I love how music can change my thinking/feeling/outlook at any given moment. An artist I come back to time and time again is Bryan Adams ... his variety of topics for songs just always seems to fit ....

• Here I am this is me
• There's no where else on Earth I'd rather be
• Here I am it's just me and you
• And tonight we make our dreams come true
• It's a new world it's a new start
• It's alive with the beating of young hearts
• It's a new day it 's a new plan
• I've been waiting for you
• Here I am
• Here we are we've just begun
• And after all this time our time has come
• Ya here we are still goin' strong
• Right here in the place where we belong
• Here I am next to you
• And suddenly the world is all brand new
• Here I am where I'm gonna stay
• Now there's nothin standin in our way
• Here I am this is me

Secondly my journey in faith has been an uneven road with many bumps but music has always been the constant reinforcement in my life. If nothing else I have to take time to be thankful for everything that I have and how lucky I am. This has been become on of my favorite songs from a new church (The Meeting Place) I starting going to in the summer :).

• In our hearts Lord, In this nation; Awakening
• Holy Spirit we desire awakening
• For You and You alone
• Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
• For the world you love
• Your will be done, Let Your will be done in me
• In Your presence, In Your power awaken me
• For this moment, For this hour, awaken me
• For You and You alone
• Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
• For the world You love
• Your will be done, Let Your will be done in me
• For You and You alone
• Awake my soul, awake my soul and sing
• For the world You love
• Your will be done, Let Your will be done in me
• Like the rising sun that shines
• From the darkness comes a light
• I hear Your voice and this is my awakening
• Like the rising sun that shines
• From the darkness comes a light
• I hear Your voice and this is my awakening
• Like the rising sun that shines
• Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
• From the darkness comes a light
• Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
• Like the rising sun that shines
• Awake my soul, Awake my soul and sing
• Only You can raise a life
• Awake my soul, Awake my soul & sing!
• In our hearts Lord, In the nations; Awakening

"After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." AH
Mich (-18)

Christmas Cinema

Had a nice relaxing evening with Eric after another long day in the books. We grabbed a bite to eat and after searching for an event that would suite our mood, we found nothing. Not that there wasn't anything going on in Winnipeg (there was a ton of events after looking) we just started our search to late. Taking our time on the way home, we stopped in at Walmart to see if there were any movies that might catch our eye. Needless to say there was a ton of holiday 'specials' - which means they put 2 horrible movies in a box set with 1 great movie and call it the "____ super pack", which leaves you asking 'is that one movie worth sitting through two bad ones to make the purchase worth it?' haha ...... Anyways the point of this post is to get you thinking about your top 5 holiday movies, we all do it, we say that 'this movie is always on tv during christmas' and than pretend to be over it until you find yourself sitting there an hour and a half later still watching. So I say embrace it and sitting down and watch the whole thing start to finish!! Here are my top 5 movies that I have watched one too many times and will probably continue to do so this christmas:

1. A Christmas Story
2. The Grinch that Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey edition)
3. Sound of Music (although not a Christmas movie always plays on CTV)
4. A Christmas Vacation
5. Home Alone

Happy Viewing!

"Everybody seems to kerbabbled. Isn't this just a little superfluous?" CLW
Mich (-19)

Meet S.T.A.C.I.E ....

Seat-system Testing Apparatus for Cold & Icy Environments = A human like structure to sit on wheelchairs in a cold temperature chamber to see how the seat cushion reacts.
This is our final design project for "Design Trilogy 1" class. The project's official title is "A Proposed Design for Evaluating the Performance of Wheelchairs in Subzero Climates". Basically it's my first crack at completing a design project from a problem given to us from a client through to a conceptual solution. Working on an engineering team has had it's challenges but it has been a very rewarding process. The report (25 pages) and the presentation (20mins) are due next Wednesday so it is consuming most of my time throughout the day (night) now. Because as much as we tried to have it done ahead of time we are finding a TONE of last minute edits and changes that we want to make to get a good mark - it's worth 50% of our final mark!
So if you ever want to chat about how seat cushions on wheelchairs perform in the -40 windchill in Winnipeg, hit me up! haha
I'm back at it .... day at school is still going, with 14hours and counting :).

"All things are difficult before they are easy." TF
Mich (-20)

Struck a Chord

Where were you this time last year?
Who influences your life on a daily basis?
Are you content with what you are doing?
What are you thankful for?
Who are you thankful for?

Reflection is a big part of how I learn, but balancing it so that it is not overwhelming for me or those close to me is also important. There is always a time and a place, just have to feel for when that is :). Until than ...

"Sometimes you stumble across a few chords that put you in a reflective place." DB
Mich (-21)

Try #Tebowing

This is a journey that started 6 months ago and it's been full of ups and downs. We are battling the injuring bug right now, not too mention this is the most demanding time of the semester for our athletes' academics. Tomorrow night is all about seeing what kind of character comes out during adversity - I'm excited for the girls that normally don't get big minutes that have a great opportunity in front of them! Changing a culture is not easy but if there has been any improvement it will show in the little things and how we respond. Win or Lose we are going for the Tebow effect - respect the game enough to not take the opportunity for granted.


Duckworth Challenge here we come!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

Mich (-22)

The Goodwin Project

Due to my crazy busy day and short night, I'll keep it simple. Stumble across this video and I really enjoyed the concept to the project - check it out!



"Step into the current faithfully, inquisitively, boldly and with good will." AG (-23)
Mich

Blue Planet

Everyone talks about the NBA lockout ending, which would mean more basketball on TV here in Canada for those of us not lucky enough to get all the extra sports channels, but I love college ball. Maybe it's because I like the fact that I don't have to try and figure out salary caps and trade dead lines but truth of the matter is I just find it more enjoyable to watch, whatever the reason. More importantly I am a huge Duke fan! It all started, like most sport things in my life, with wanting to be like my brother so that was his team so it was my team too. But over the past few years it has been so much fun being a Duke fan, mostly because people hate them haha. I look forward to another full season of getting chastise because I'm a 'duke-crazy' and don't mind in the least ..... I will love every minute of it!!
Check out their media/fan site - dukeblueplanet - they do a fantastic job of keeping the site up to date!


Quick Game Notes:
On the Women's side - they will be fun to watch because they are so young but they can all shoot the 3 ball and run the floor hard. I think, they will have the rookie of the year in Williams (hope I get the chance to see them at Final Four).
For the already highly talked about men ... Yes Austin Rivers may be overrated but every Duke team needs someone the fans can hate the most and he is starting at a fresh 4 years. Ryan Kelly ... yes exactly "who?" You will know soon enough. Seth Curry, yeah the other Curry, will be a PTP when no one else steps up! And the Plumlees - take your pick, you never know which one will step up but there are enough to choose from!

Just another source of inspiration and sport fun in my life :).

"There are five fundamental qualities that make every team great: communication, trust, collective responsibility, caring and pride." Coach K
Mich

Ulimate

After a very successful outdoor season playing Ultimate (Frisbee) with the Wiskey Discs, winning the A/B division, a portion of that team decided to play indoor. But with the idea that we would drop all the way down to the D division so that we could get a new group of friends to learn the game and for the rest of us to play in positions that we don't normally do. We formed the Hucks Unlimited! I'm enjoying learning more about the handling position - basically I can't just running around anymore and catch touchdowns, I actually have to 'learn' the game. It's been fun, the less competitive side to the division is a bit tough at times but it's nice to get the run in! We play Thursday and Sunday nights (10:30pm+) so it's a nice way to blow some steam off at the end of the day. So for now I'll just focus on learning and getting better at throwing a 'Frisbee' around!


(A little video, in case you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say 'ultimate' OR if you have a preexisting picture in your head about people just throwing a Frisbee around - its way more intense than your think!)

"If you can't take the heat, don't tickle the dragon." SF (-25)
Mich

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