Utopia Here We Come

Back to the lab again

2012-01-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

I've been spending a lot of time back in the white/yellow belt class as of late. I car pool with a friend of mine who recently started kung fu and I help out in class while I am there often teaching small groups of students. I've come to realize something from this and that is that I have forgotten a lot of stuff since that class. Not going to the beginner classes has been an opportunity to keep up on my basics that I had been missing out on for a long time. As well attending I had been missing out on opportunities to work on teaching and leadership skills.

Side note the Chinese New Years celebration is coming up with weekend and I have taken on filming it this year which I am pretty excited for.

Living in cars

2012-01-15T09:40:00.001-08:00

Since the start of the new year I have put on a total of 2341.6 km on my car. Needless to say I feel like I have been living in my car lately. Aside from work everything I need to get to is a minimum round trip of about 100km. Fortunately even though I am car bound I still can achieve a lot while commuting by being creative. I can go over forms in my mind as well as work on learning mandarin. Though I wish I didn't have to spend so much of time in the car I have been forced to make it work for my life.

Good endings for new beginings

2012-01-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

Last week I was presented a great opportunity to end my year in the UBBT with an act of kindness. My girlfriends aunt and uncle were helping friends of theirs renovate and move into a new house they had bought in a very short amount of time. One month to be precise, well 17 days if you include Christmas. Long story short Chelsey and I were called upon to help move the family over night when the wife spiral fractured her ankle. Even though it meant I missed out on going snowboarding and was moving boxed and furniture until about 2 am, the sense of gratitude from the family was worth it and it was really great way to end off my year.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

2011-10-06T18:24:00.000-07:00

After the passing of Steve Jobs a whole surge of videos and such a gone viral over the internet including his 2005 speech for Stanford University. This speech delivers some pretty powerful messages and over all has reminded me that we are the ones who shape our own destinies.

Breaking my cycles

2011-09-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

This last week has been kinda helter skelter for routine I've been trying to make sure that I get a minimum of 100 push up done before I head to work and then another 50 or so when I get home just to kind of get out of work mode so I can get back into working at home mode. The only problem is that lately I have been sleeping in so it's been about 50 if any. I have to force myself to get of bed even if I am tired because doing my push ups in the morning wakes me up and makes me have a much better day. Also I have to get to sleep at an earlier so that it is easier to get up.

Year so far

2011-09-17T10:33:00.001-07:00

I have dropped the ball severely on my blogging this year. In doing so I feel I have really let my teammates down and I've let myself down. I basically skipped out on half a years worth opportunity to grow in my Kung Fu and in all aspects of my life really. I had lots of time to think without the daily distractions I usually have about my Kung fu and my life while I was at the ocean and decided that I have been coasting and taking the easy path this last couple months. Fortunately for me I still have time to change how I age been doing, well everything and pull something good out of this year.

2011-07-28T23:52:00.001-07:00

So I've been feeling kinda down and out lately. Partly work, partly my girlfriend is working in Saskatchewan, mostly travel lust though I think. I'm feeling better now I decided that instead of wallowing in self pity i would do something to make someone else happy. Moral of the story making others happy makes me happy too.

Catastrophe adverted

2011-07-18T11:25:00.001-07:00

With a little rest and proper care I managed to prevent an injury that probably would have taken me out for a couple weeks. Friday I felt a bit of pain in my knee so that night it was iced and wrapped, which is out of character for me usually it's just forget and go. Saturday I was having an awesome tai chi class where everything was flowing and I was getting my six harmonies. I was literally buzzing with chi until bam my knee buckled and I was done. Luckily went home iced and wrapped and took an anti-inflammatory and rested. Sunday was another day of relaxing this time at the beach and the water seemed to heal up everything. So now Monday no pain. Still taking it easy but for once I properly took care of an injury.

It's a beautiful day in the market place

2011-07-04T06:54:00.001-07:00

This weekend I was finally able to make it to the farmers market and it was awesome. Everything about the market feels so alive especially in contrast to the supermarkets. It's also nice to learn about your food from talking to the people who produce it as opposed to just reading labels,which is a habit we got into after our 100 mile diet last year. All in all good day with spent with family in the market even though I was recovering from a pretty bad cold.

State of mind

2011-06-11T22:07:00.001-07:00

Today we met up today as a UBBT team which was the first meeting I was able to attend for this year. It was a much needed kick in the butt. I've been making to many excuses and letting things slide to much, such as my blogging for about two months. Luckily there is still time to change my mind set to get more out of the UBBT and out of myself plus when people know where I am at and how I am doing they can give those little nudges that I sometimes need.

forgot to mention that I am psyched to start learning to wind surfing tomorrow!

Reboot

2011-05-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

I am unbalanced I have decided. Not mentally but in life, I have a hard time finding even a moderate balance between work, kung fu, freelance and well just plain old living. Time for myself is the first to go, a habit I picked up in college when my choices were homework, food showering or sleep and I could usually only pick two on a lucky week three. The last week or so I have been working to fix this and have been making improvements. I managed to make a trip to b.c. where my phone was rendered useless, which was such a good feeling being so disconnected. An even better feeling was doing my forms on a mountain in the middle of nowhere with the sound of a river flowing nearby. Also I have started a new and proper routine for training so hopefully it goes well and I can keep up with it my inability to keep routines is one of my biggest short comings.
But now I am tired, a little hungry and ready to go home for the day

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..."

— Dr. Seuss (Oh, the Places You'll Go!)

Recovery is not fun at all

2011-04-07T10:31:00.000-07:00

A couple years back I was doing something stupid and ended up tearing all the ligaments on the inside of my left wrist. It sucked as it pretty much made any flexibility in my wrist non existent. I went to the doctor and was told that all I could do is slowly strengthen it and I did and it was mostly perfect up until a couple weeks ago and BAM!!! Re-injured and the worst part is that I can't think of what I did to injure it? Suddenly my ability to push ups was cut to pretty much zero. I've been slowly working it up and stretching it out with progress but it's slow, and well I can tend to be impatient sometimes so I want it healed now. Unfortunately it's not going to happen and I don't want to put myself back at all in the recovery process so for now it's slow and steady wins the race.

I think the Old Spice Man is trying to kill me!

2011-03-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Sounds like I'm being overly dramatic but sadly i am not. Everyday we lather, scrub, wash and spray potentially deadly chemicals onto our bodies. I say potentially since there are about 50,000 chemicals in use that have not been tested.

But don't take my word for it check out what GOOD magazine has written about it as well as natural replacements.

http://www.good.is/series/no-more-dirty-looks/

Happiness Is Sunshine

2011-03-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

It's so warm out comparatively speaking. The snow is melting and the sun is shining and I can drive through puddles (one of my favorite past times in the spring). With the rising temperature, I have noticed a rise in my energy levels. Now it's time for less time inside in front of the computer and more time outside.

Side note: push ups are getting better for numbers but I need to be working on my forms more, especially with tiger challenge coming up. I also got ahead on my kilometers due to getting a exercise bike for the apartment. Balancing all my goals is been pretty tricky and I to get back into the good routine I had at the beginning to be able to achieve them all. And I need to fix my diet it has been very inconsistent and no where near as good as when I was doing the 100 mile challenge last year.

Your life is defined by its opportunities...even the ones you miss.

2011-03-06T23:47:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about my strengths and weakness lately. It started with just me as a martial artist but now is encompassing all aspects of my life. I have also been thinking a lot about being on the UBBT team and realized that I forgot that it is a probably the single biggest opportunity I have been given to take my weakness and improve on them. It's easy to get caught up in the numbers forget why we are doing this at all, well for me at least.

That being said I am making it so that by the end of march I will have not only caught up but gotten ahead on both my push ups and sit ups which have fallen behind.

crossing over

2011-02-27T22:32:00.000-08:00

I had an epiphany yesterday. It occurred when I was on top of a mountain sitting on a chairlift with the sun shinning down on me. I had been in the moment completely for pretty much the whole day. Nothing mattered but what I was doing at the exact moment. Maybe it's the fact that if my mind strays I could horribly injure myself or other people but every time I strap into my snowboard and start riding i just get completely into the zone.

This is awesome but I need to learn how to be this engaged in everything I do in life. My epiphany was that I needed to make a more conscious effort to be more in the moment especially when it comes to my training.

You Call That FOOD?!?!?!

2011-02-16T13:32:00.000-08:00

So last night I was out with a friend on a fun photo shoot and it was getting late. I had only eaten some rice that day and she had pretty much nothing to eat so needles to say we were hungry. I was alright to get home and make something (most likely more rice) but she wanted to stop and well being past 10 pm nothing was open except Mcdonalds. I usually make a point of not eating their food but I was hungry and feeling kinda lazy and the main reason she offered to buy me some and I have a hard time saying no to free food. Big Mistake. I ordered a double cheeseburger and large fries total calories was something like 820 the majority of it coming from this super tiny burger. Seriously make a panther fist and the burger was probably smaller. Also it tasted horrible.
It did reinforce why there is usually a weight issue associated with fast food. Most often these burgers are being offered for super low prices usually around $1.39 making it cheap and highly accessible. And In comparison to planning and making dinner, it's a whole lot easier to just run well I mean drive down to your local burger joint and voila instant supper no effort. I know there is no easy solution to the fast food dilemma but it's a huge problem here in North America.

2011-02-13T22:58:00.001-08:00

This week has been not so great my physical numbers have been down and I've been fighting off being sick. To make up for it I did an intensive work out today followed up with an hour of stretching/yoga and I feel so much better. Lesson of the day is that I need to add a better stretching program when I'm not in class. Another good thing this week is that we got a stationary bike in the apartment

The secret of hapiness

2011-02-04T00:36:00.000-08:00

Sitting next to me is my cat Shinobi and she is now very content. The reason for this is her favorite thing probably in the apartment, a wicker basket with a little bit of foam lining. Earlier today she spent half an hour playing with an elastic band and for a brief time she even managed to entertain herself with a crumpled piece of paper. We could learn a lot from animals if we took the time to pay attention to them. They learn to make to with what they have in life where we in our mass consuming culture are always looking for the newest better gadget or toy.

planned

2011-01-29T13:57:00.000-08:00

So I finished my first goal of the year by achieving my Sihing rank on Wednesday night, which many will probably agree, is about time. Another thing I'm working on is a planned trip to Nicaragua at the end of March where me and a group of about 20 other people will be installing bio filters into homes as well as other humanitarian work such as delivering school supplies and helping out with a local orphanage. I was hesitant to write about the trip due to the fact that it's not 100% a for sure thing. First off as the date grows closer there seems to be many things that are still not planned and the other thing is that I have to raise about $2000 to go, though that is a lot less of a concern things usually work out for me. So fingers crossed that everything works out and that in a couple months my blog entry will be written on a nice sunny beach.

Another thing that happened this week is that I was asked if I would volunteer my time teaching photography classes at the Africa Center which is an inner city after school program to help kids stay out of trouble and give them a place to get their homework done and get some exercise and meet other children. This is also in the planning stages, but I am going to try and make it work out since it is a great opportunity to give back to the community and share my knowledge.

distracted

2011-01-21T14:40:00.001-08:00

It's impossible to be bored these days. I mean truly bored, the type of boredom where you really stretch you imagination to just have some escape. Almost everywhere I go there is always a t.v., a radio, a computer or worst of all my phone there to offer me distractions. When I realized this I began to make a conscious effort to escape from technology if even for 15 minutes and just allow my mind to wander and think about any problems at hand. Most often this is in the shower where even if i wanted to I could not bring in my phone. As an experiment try leaving your phone behind, after the initial separation anxiety and panic feeling of being cut off, it's pure bliss when you realize your not being interrupted every five minutes by the incessant buzzing of an incoming message.

Food journal entry 13

2011-01-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

no breakfast
pizza sub with extra veggies for lunch
chocolate milk

met up with friend for a beer
2 croissants and bowl of rice with chick peas and teriyaki sauce for supper
water throughout the day
dream tea before bed

food journal entry 12

2011-01-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

Indian Buffet
Pakora
Naan bread
butter chicken
curried lamb
vegetable dish
rice
chai tea
water through out the day

food journal entry 11

2011-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

2 pieces of pizza - breakfast
2 bowls pasta - supper
chocolate milk
dream tea

Food journal entry 10

2011-01-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

2 eggs with cheese and chocolate milk at 1:30 am

lunch
steak sub extra meat and cheese

supper
bowl of soup

2nd supper
6 pieces of pizza
chocolate milk

dream tea

water throughout the day

One week down fifty one to go

2011-01-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

The first week of UBBT 8 is over and I am in a good routine. Routine was my biggest down fall last year I never got into a really good routine that I stuck too instead I jumped around trying to figure out what worked and well nothing really did. This year though I think I have set one up I can stick to especially when it comes to my daily goals.

On a side note all this snow has shown me how willing people are to help each other. I personally had strangers help me push my car out of being stuck twice this weekend even though they could have stayed in their warm cars or homes. Also everywhere I drive, down side roads I see small bands of people helping each other out.

Food journal entry 9

2011-01-09T22:57:00.000-08:00

breakfast
2 pieces french toast

lunch
1 piece of steak

1 rum and coke
1 ceaser

supper
2 bowls of stew
1 cup of tea

water

Food journal entry 8

2011-01-09T13:13:00.000-08:00

toast and dream tea at 2:30 am

2 eggs and toast for breakfast

ribs
baked potatoe with butter and pepper on it
4 pieces of homemade bread dipped in vinegar
ceaser salad
3 glasses of jhuice
1 glass hot chocolate

Food journal entry 7

2011-01-08T02:03:00.001-08:00

Lunch
2 bowls of pasta 1 with basil pesto sauce one with just butter and pepper

Supper
Steak
Mashed potatoes
Salad with vinaigrette dressing
2 glasses of juice

Water throughout the day

food journal entry 6

2011-01-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Only ate once today and that was 3 bowls of Macaroni with home made white cheddar sauce so good!! oh and lots of water throughout the day.

New Year, New Goals

2011-01-06T10:29:00.000-08:00

Hello fellow team 8 members. This year I decided to do what I should have done last year and post my requirements which I'm off to a good start on this year. Posting everyday to my photo blog and keeping my food journal everyday. Also the annual 1000 push ups and sit ups for New Year's gave me a bit of padding that I plan to ignore and pretend I don't have that way I wont get behind thinking that I have a fall back.

Anyways best of luck to everyone on there new year and new goals and here are mine.

Physical:
50000 push ups
50000 sit ups
1600 km walk, run, bike, swim
1000 reps kempo
500 reps any other form
relearn lau gar
relearn tai chi form
practices yoga minimum once a week
qi qung minimum once a week

Career:
52 photoshoots
26 design pieces
52 personal website updates
4 self promotional pieces
Be a part of 2 art shows

Personal:
15 minutes meditation a day
1000 acts kindness
20 books (10 fiction 10 non fiction)
learn to wind surf
learn to back flip
learn to sew and make 3 pieces of clothing
go sky diving
Start a photo blog and upload a photo a day
Fund raise $2000
eat 50% local and remove 75% minimum of processed food from my diet
keep daily food journal
2 date nights a month with Chelsey
travel to 5 new places
study a new language
Achieve my Sihing Rank

Food journal entry 5

2011-01-06T08:27:00.001-08:00

Started off eating good

Lunch
Spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce
Salad with beet vinaigrette dressing
6 shrimp
Roast deer stew (left overs from last nights potluck)

Supper
2 bowls home made soup

But the after Kung fu I was starving and we stopped at Chelsey's moms house and they ordered food in.

2nd supper
2 pieces of cheese bread
2 pieces of hamburger pizza
1/4 quesidilla
Some fries

Food journal entry 4

2011-01-05T12:00:00.001-08:00

Potluck last night but I ate pretty good

Breakfast/lunch
1/2 cup rice with basil presto sauce on it

Supper
Roast deer
Large salad
Pita and homemade sauce
5 chicken wings
Spaghetti squash

Glass of wine
Harvey wallbanger
2 beers

Food journal entry 3

2011-01-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

baked chickpeas
large salad with homemade beet vinaigrette dressing
cabbage rolls and 1 pita
2 cups of hot chocolate
2 roast beef sandwiches
4 glasses of water
1 hot toddy

Food journal entry 2

2011-01-02T20:07:00.001-08:00

Bread pudding 1 small piece
Canned peaches from Chelsey's auntie from bc
2 pieces of home made
pizza left over from last night
Water
1 double burger with cheese some fries
1 cup green tea

Food journal entry 1

2011-01-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

New years and I work part time at a bar so a couple drinks in this one

1 ceaser
3 rum and cokes

turkey on pita sandwich with mustard and mayo
rice with basil pesto sauce
2 pieces of home made pizza (cheese tomato sauce turkey and homemade dough)
lots of water
2 glasses of orange juice

Holidays over back to the real world

2010-12-28T14:58:00.000-08:00

Back at work after a nice break that wasn't quite long enough. It was good to hang out with family for the season and eat lots of great food, though I managed not to over eat this year surprisingly. My girlfriend loved her gift which was a 76 page hardcover book filled with photos from the last 2 1/2 years we've been dating. Boxing day was pretty crazy as we ventured to the mall to look for a bag for me. I found one and paid almost nothing for it so that was good but I do hate the mall. All day I heard the horror stories of people getting up super early and rushing to the stores only to be waiting three hours+ in lines to save a couple dollars. I'm glad I chose to spend the morning with family instead my waiting in lines was comparable to a normal day.

Oh and one final note I am starting a photo blog for one of my goals for team 8 you can check it out at www.craigjanzen.com/threesixfive

Well Wishes

2010-12-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

I refuse to talk about Christmas even though I made my girlfriend the best gift ever and only spent about 70 hours on it. That's all I can say until after Christmas, so until then I hope every one has a great holiday season!

To sum it up

2010-12-09T14:57:00.000-08:00

The end of the year is coming up in less then a month. The end of UBBT 7 is coming up in less then a month as well. Just over a year ago I had returned to Kung Fu after fairly long hiatus and grabbed one of the last stops on team 7 for our school. It's been a rocky year since I signed up, but if it was easy I wouldn't have gotten anything out of this year. It's when times are hard that you have the most personal growth and it's impossible to learn if you don't make mistakes. To answer the question what has the UBBT process done for me, my answer would be that it forced me out of my comfort zones and into situation where I was able to both grow and learn. A byproduct of this was that it also allowed me to realize some personal goals that had fallen by the wayside, excused by not having enough time, money, etc..
Physically from when I started I stronger and have much better cardio. I still have a lot of growing in this area and my numbers weren't the greatest for my physical requirements. On the other hand I surpassed or at least will meet my goals that were career based. I was able to get my website finished which is something that has been laying around the back of my mind gathering dust and cobwebs.
One of the biggest learning experiences this year was when I took on the 100 mile challenge. After learning about the food industry and the many negative impacts that it has on everything from the environment to the human body I tried for 100 days eating food that came from 100 miles of where I resided. Starting in April made things even tougher since most food was out of season so we ate mostly root vegetables. Sticking strictly to this diet is something doesn't work for me but can be assimilated into my eating habits.
Another thing that the UBBT has done is allowed me to increased my mindfulness. Through daily meditation and my 1000 acts of kindness requirement I have become increasingly more aware of my actions as well as the actions of others around.
All in all it has been a tough but very quick year and I am very thankful for the opportunity to have taken part in the UBBT.

Balance is riding a unicyle on a tightrope over a swimming pool filled with razorwire

2010-11-19T13:42:00.000-08:00

Went to the doctors this morning and got blood work done. Getting tested to see where my energy has gone. It feels like i have nothing in my the last couple weeks though I have been getting more sleep then normal. (the doctor's jaw dropped when I told him 3-4 hours was normal for me). Speaking of sleep I had half written a post on balance after reading a comment on how Kung Fu has brought balance to my life. I was gonna say that in fact it has not. I then read a blog titled Balanced People Don't Change the World and realized I've just balanced my life a different way. I have to make sacrifices (usually in the food and sleep departments, followed closely by the friends and families department) to get to where it is that I want to be in life. Anyways the blog post is a good read and I'll include the link for anyone interested.

Balanced People Don't Change the World

Business as usual

2010-11-14T16:27:00.001-08:00

Hurray out of the office and the city, well at least my city. Currently I'm in a coffee shop in the arts district of Calgary reading up on the business of photography. The world of photography seems very at odds with the teachings of Kung Fu. Egos can run wild with photographers due to the fact that no one else will think your any good if you don't. Interesting side note and speaking of egos, while on vacation I had my ego explained to complete strangers as viewed by Jon. My ego is pretty big but causes mento work harder to prove that I can do the things I claim I can do, something that in retrospect I do all the time.

Being humble and in photography are two things that don't go together. You have to be business savvy and persistent in getting your name out there 'cause no one will hire you if they don't know who you are.

This is something I was really struggling with until I realized that the best thing to do is learn where to be humble and where to let my ego run. My ego pushes my career forward but being cocky all the time and in everything I do is not healthy and runs the risk of alienating me from friends, peers and potential jobs. Instead it is important to maintain a healthy ego. I'm good at what I can do but I can always improve and always learn. It never a bad idea to look at everything with an eye for detail. Even a kid who just picks up a camera can teach me or inspire me but if I don't pay attention or give myself the chance to look at their images with an open mind I'm wasting my time.

The same is true with my Kung Fu just cause I'm a brown belt doesn't mean I can't learn from a white belt. Telling myself I'm better then they are and that there is nothing to learn is limiting to my training. It may just be something I've forgotten or new perspective to a technique or a million other things. What matters is that you keep your mind open.

And now for a shameless plug to myself. Completed another goal my website is now complete and updates are happening daily. Check it out at www.craigjanzen.com

reapeat after me: we are free

2010-10-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we just need to remind our selves to think outside of society's perceived opinions of what it means to be free.

If I was a dinosaur I would be an Awesomasaurus

2010-10-18T22:23:00.000-07:00

So it's difficult for me to write when everything is going good in life. I find that if everything is falling apart it's not hard at all I can write paragraph after paragraph and still have more to say. When things are good, nothing. The last couple weeks have been really good I've booked a lot of upcoming photo shoots, played a lot of guitar and just had fun hanging out with my girlfriend. I logged alot of acts of kindness as well over the last little bit which is the easiest goal to do but the hardest to realize if your not aware. A fun exercise that will for sure brighten your day is to make note of everytime someone does a little random act of kindness for you chances are it happens more times then you notice.
anyways i've rambled enough time for push ups then bed soon i think

reconnected

2010-09-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I've taken the time to read over the blogs of my team mates It's also been a while since I felt connected to the team and to the UBBT itself. This is further compounded by the fact I have been unable to make it to the kwonn on a regular basis (on no basis actually for the month of August)

After spending the past hour catching up on at least a fraction of the blog posts I'm feeling a reconnect with everyone and realizing that I really miss training in the kwoon. While training everything else in my life gets the volume turned down and all the problems of the day just fade away.

I'll take Biomimicry, Beauty Queens, Olympians, and No Sleep for 500

2010-09-23T04:03:00.000-07:00

Incredibly inspiring and busy week this week. I drove down to Calgary for the weekend to visit my girlfriend and while there managed to attend a lecture on Biomimicry "Biomimicry is an innovation method that seeks sustainable solutions by emulating nature's time-tested patterns and strategies." www.biomimicryguild.com which was something we had kinda been talking about all since we went to the zoo earlier in the day. One of the biggest things themes that I took away from the lecture was to look at things with kid glasses on a question everything. The main theme though was to look at nature as a mentor instead of just copying it but questioning everything fits into that theme, at least for myself.

Then on Sunday I spent an evening with Miss Canada 2009 and three Olympians as they planned the last bits of a huge fundraiser they are starting this Sunday. Backing up a minute Miss Canada is one of Chelsey's roommate in Calgary and she has planned a 4000km bike ride from Calgary to L.A. to raise money for both the Canadian and American Red Cross. For the past couple weeks I've seen her working on this project endlessly and have realized that I can be quite lazy. I'm pretty sure she hasn't slept almost at all for the last month as the deadline gets closer for them to start. Her passion and dedication to this has shown me what is possible to accomplish when you set your mind to a task. The fundraiser is called The Ride For Red which you can check out for more info. It was also cool seeing everyone as real people and just having fun and being themselves. Their may have even been an incident involving a bike race in the kitchen around the island.

Since the weekend I've slept about 8 hours and have been working pretty much non stop on both work and personal projects as well as some design work that I picked up to help with The Ride For Red so today after work I think after I clean up the apartment abit cause Chelsey's coming to Edmonton for the weekend I'm gonna crash.

now some pictures from the zoo

musings

2010-09-14T16:50:00.000-07:00

I was kinda putting off writing this cause I don't feel particularly in a good mood as of late. Since getting back from my vacation, which included helping my girlfriend move to Calgary, I've felt a bit off. Mostly it's been my work that has been putting me in such a state, due mainly with office politics that I won't bore you with. Being back in Edmonton I really miss all the greenery and I really miss the ocean. Even though we were busy everything still felt fairly relaxed where as now I feel like i'm being pulled in a million directions and that I'm about to collapse (could be that I just worked 4 shifts in the last 3 days and drove to and from Calgary in that time). One positive thing is that I did a really great photo shoot for work.

New Topic:
I managed to accomplish two of my goals while on vacation and learned somethings about my self on the way.

I learned that I feel more creative when I'm immersed in nature
I have pretty good balance on a surfboard
I really hate socks as well as really selfish people
I have a lot of ideas for photo shoots that I need to put into action
I have a lot of life plans that I need to put into action

Anyways work is now done and I'm going home I think I can actually get supper tonight

Paradise

2010-09-02T17:02:00.001-07:00

As I write this I am sitting at a table made of found wood just off the pacific rim highway. Just finished surfing and waiting for a burger made from locally caught cod and prawns. Just finished the last day of surfing so I successfully completed one of my requirements. I don't really want to go back to Edmonton since I feel that this place is a paradise. I feel more refreshed and more creative then I have in a long long time. Well enough of technology time to enjoy the food and last bit of Tofino before making my way back east.

P.S. Some random shots from the trip so far

Location:Pacific Rim Hwy,Tofino,Canada

Over half done you say?

2010-08-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

Time wise I suppose we are now over half way through the year numbers wise I'm behind not as far as I had thought once i added up all my numbers that I had been neglecting to do. Already I feel more driven to get my numbers back up. Thank you to the people who have been reading and commenting on my blogs it lets you know I'm not alone out here since lately I've been finding it harder and harder to make it to the kwoon consistently. I also have realized there are some goals that I just won't be able to do this year and that there is no point dwelling on this it was just bringing me down.

Here is a summery of the first half of the year:

I started out pretty strong with all my goals but around the last two months I really dropped the ball. Positive note though when I started this year I could barely do 35 push ups. They were something that I never worked on out side of class now my reps of 50 are no problem. Already I am seeing progress in my physical and cardio.

The biggest part of my year has been dedicated to the 100 mile challange I did. I learned how much time and effort goes into eating only local food. At times this was a major source of contention in our house as me and my girlfriend stared at our freezer seeing something like a long forgotten chocolate bar. One of us wanting to eat it one staying strong knowing that it will only lead to regret, yummy tasty chocolaty regret. This challenge taught us how to make bread from scratch including harvesting our own yeast culture for sour dough and experiment that ended in utter failure due to impatience I think it almost lead to a fight or a break down and eating out luckily I also know how to whip up some flat bread in no time flat. (<-- unintentional bad pun, sorry).

Along with bread we made all kinds of soups and salads. we also made perogies which i have blogged about in a previous post so you know all about that adventure.
Meat wasn't a problem at all since both Chelsey's cousin and one of my good friends are both hunters and were willing to share.

Luckily we weren't the first people in Edmonton to attempt this challenge so there was lots of resources online to help us find food, though this didn't make it a walk in the park. Also I would like to thank two team members for their support and ideas and for a cooler of food. Thank you Sihing Kitchko and Mrs. Donohue, without your support I probably wouldn't have thought of a lot of things.

The hardest time to follow the diet is when we go to family functions and since Chelsey has a huge family that meant a lot of family functions where is wasn't feasible most of the time eat local. By the end of the hundred days her family tried more to serve dishes that contained some local elements.

I should probably do some work though since my entire day to this point has been figuring out where I stand in my UBBT goals and things don't look as grim as I had previously thought.

2010-08-04T00:41:00.000-07:00

Lately I've felt like I have no energy. I wake up and force myself out of be only to realize I have no time for breakfast or to make a lunch, yet again.

Also I've been thinking about where I am in life, my career and what not. I've made a few decisions 1) I definitely do not have the focus of a black belt or the discipline at this time but realizing this gives me a goal to work towards and 2) in my career well let's just say I need a lot more work there to get where I want to be (when I figure out where that is exactly).

One last thing is since we are supposed to blog about our failures as well as our successes in the ubbt. It would be unfair for me to not say that my numbers are bad really bad right now. I will work on this and now that people know they are bad it gives me accountability to fix this.

In the aftermath

2010-07-16T09:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the end of my 100 mile diet and I would be lying if I told you that I enjoyed every minute of it. I would also be lying if I told you that I was able to do it 100%. We did manage to remain faithful to the diet 78.5% of the time (the half being eating some of our meals with non 100 mile rice near the end). Without a lot of planning and research this diet impossible without starving or cheating.

Now that we are done we settled onto a new diet that incorporates what we learned with mixing in organic and fair trade food to make a well rounded diet that is more friendly to the environment and to the people. It's an exciting time where I can eat again.

Break from Reality

2010-07-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

What a hectic week last week. I got a brand new car so I no longer will miss Kung Fu classes due to my environmentally unfriendly time bomb I was driving around. A bit of shifting my budget around and I made the car payments workable.

I also got promoted to art director this week. The promotion was bittersweet since the original art director was unjustly fired. At the same time I did need the raise that comes with the position and the title looks good on a resume. Also he was leaving at the end of the month so the position was mine anyways.

So after a crazy couple of days of production that involved me training a new person and myself I took a four day weekend and spent almost none of it in the city. It's always so relaxing to get out of the city and back to nature. I find that it makes me feel refreshed and clears my mind

Now It's monday and back to the grind... I already miss the water

Impossible is nothing

2010-06-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

IMPOSSIBLE IS NOTHING
When I first saw this phrase it was for an ad campaign for I think Adidas. I thought wow that makes no sense surely they meant "nothing is impossible"? I've been thinking about this catch phrase lately as it seems to have stuck with me and I realize that they meant impossible is nothing as in the word should not be used or has no meaning. I think they totally hit the mark with this way of thinking, even if it is only a gimmick to sell more product. This has actually become a source f inspiration for me. after missing almost a month of goals I found my self in a really bad spot and almost wanting to quit even though I can't. after the first week of being "too busy" the second week followed and was equally busy. My numbers were getting well nowhere and to make them up was seeming more and more impossible until a month had passed and looking back I had done almost nothing. I realized that I had to make a switch in my mind set and I struck the word from my vocabulary because nothing is truly impossible just really really hard.

" if all this was easy, it wouldn’t matter how it ends."
Tina’s Glorious Comeback, Dan Mangan

It's all new to me

2010-06-16T12:17:00.000-07:00

Because I missed last week's blog posting this is not all completely new what I'm writing about. But two weekends ago was the Humane Society's Cat give away and well I got a cat and it even has a name now (that's actually pretty new as it took over a week for me and my girlfriend to agree on a name)

Meet Shinobi

The Humane Society is holding another event on the 27th and is in need of volunteers.
Here is the email that I received from them if anyone is interested.

Pets in the Park is quickly approaching and we still have various positions to fill. This event is really fun time for all involved. I want to take the time to thank everyone one that has volunteered their time already for set up and will be volunteering at the event. We are still in need of 40 plus volunteers for the June 27, 2010 at the event and 30-40 volunteers for setup on the June 26, 2010. If you or any of your friends/family is able to volunteer please lets Marissa know ASAP. Please contact her at volhelp2@edmontonhumanesociety.com.

I recommend helping out if you can

venting i guess

2010-06-04T20:54:00.000-07:00

So i just got my a new bike today after mine was in a car/bike accident. This is a pretty big deal for me since the bike is my preferred method of travel.

And now for something completely different:

I find myself with a difficult decision to make. My girlfriend just got accepted into ACAD which is a design school in Calgary and i'm torn between staying behind and going with her. I'm pretty anxious for a change of scenery but before I go I want to get my black belt, which is the only thing that makes me even consider staying. Kung Fu has become such an integral part of my life and it's something that I want to finish. The thing is that I already know what I'm going to do and that is stay in the Edmonton area until I do get my black belt.

I am gonna need a new job soon though I think. The one I have now is leaving me rather burnt out and feeling uncreative as of late. Actually I feel unmotivated and overwhelmed. The Kwoon seems to be the only place that I can forget completely about everything and just focus in the moment.

Repitition. Is it really neccesary?

2010-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

other possible titles:

Kung Fu Vs. Car

Luck Vs. Training

It's not often that we are forced to use our training in real life situations but yesterday in the moments before i slammed into the hood of the car that just hit me as I was riding my bike home from work, my body reacted by getting ready to break fall. I suppose there is no conclusive proof that the break fall actually kept me from getting seriously injured but according to everyone I am really lucky and should probably have been hurt a lot more.

i need a motivational speaker...or at least i did

2010-05-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Finally I feel like i'm back into a routine it took alot of work and the warmer it gets outside the more i feel less like doing anything. My motivation has been pretty low this past little while and with a hectic schedule it was pretty easy for me to make excuses for not being where i should be.

food family fun

2010-05-14T15:28:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of just plain dropping the ball I'm back into my groove well for the most part this blog is 4 days later then it should be.

I mentioned earlier that I was helping with the set up of fundraiser which was for breast cancer research and I'm proud to say that we raised over $1500 from our event which was a zombie car wash.

Also a bit late but worth noting is that me and my girlfriend successfully pulled off a 100 mile mothers day dinner for both our families. If you ever wanna test your patience try making from scratch, dough and all, enough perogies to feed 10 people. We paired it with elk roast and fresh salad. Unfortunate we didn't have time to grab some of the 100 mile safe wine so it was served with refreshing water. Over all it was great time and a relaxing afternoon, a sort of resting period between two super hectic weeks.
But now I should be packing as I am on the road again for the weekend

mostly here… i think

2010-05-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

I ended up missing my blog last week and am very late on this one. It's hard to want to write when you have to write about how much you dropped the ball but i have document the downs as well as the ups so here it is.

It's hard to eat local food when your on the road or rushing about which was my entire last week. Without preparation it is actually almost impossible to eat a local meal. They take time and energy, but mostly time. With my girlfriends upcoming graduation it was back to final project mode which, for anyone not in design and photography, means a lot of late, late nights and very early morning days finishing up projects and setting up final photo shoots as well as editing and printing somewhere in there. So my life all last week was moral support and an extra hand to help get things done which meant being home very little and also very little kung fu in general. my last week wasnt all bad though had a decent amount of acts of kindness including randomly giving away an extra set of tickets I had to comic con to a lady and her daughter who were very happy especially since it was her daughters birthday.

I also went white water rafting which was nearly gave me hypothermia but was really fun none the less.

as for now it's trying to get myself motivated and back into a routine

2010-04-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

This week has been pretty bad for eating local it's been hectic aswell. I'm writing from the road actually. On my way to white water rafting

Growth as a Process

2010-04-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

This week I don't want to blog about food so instead I will put up a few things that I found kinda inspiring. It's the incomplete manifesto for growth a set of 43 statements that may get you to think just a little bit more about your life and how you approach things.

2. Forget about good.
Good is a known quantity. Good is what we all agree on. Growth is not necessarily good. Growth is an exploration of unlit recesses that may or may not yield to our research. As long as you stick to good you'll never have real growth.

13. Slow down.
Desynchronize from standard time frames and surprising opportunities may present themselves.

15. Ask stupid questions.
Growth is fueled by desire and innocence. Assess the answer, not the question. Imagine learning throughout your life at the rate of an infant.

43. Power to the people.
Play can only happen when people feel they have control over their lives. We can't be free agents if we’re not free.

For the rest check out www.brucemaudesign.com

2010-04-14T22:39:00.001-07:00

I was gonna write this blog and filled with complaints mostly cause I was hungry all day, but after today's team meeting I think I will actually look talk about the positive things that have taken place. Food wise I have gained a great appreciation for little things that so many people take for granted such as little snacks when your hungry. I also know my sense of smell towards food has also increased (still debating if this is all that good of a thing cause when I smell food it makes me hungry) I've also learned how to make alot of my own food which is something that I never thought I would have to do but something I think alot of people would benefit from.

On the volunteer front I have completed my orientation at the Humane Society and am committed to a minimum of 2 hours a week for at least 4 months.

even though this last week was horrible for numbers I can't dwell on it or make excuses I just have to take it for what it is, a bad week and push myself out of the little slump I'm in.

Fresh food will always taste better

2010-04-06T07:44:00.000-07:00

subtitle: I'm not in as deep as i thought

So Eating locally is not as challenging as I had first thought. Don't get me wrong it is still hard really hard but you won't starve. Thanks to the advice of others I have managed to source most of the food that I will need. The farmers market also turned out to have more food then I had originally planned on obtaining. The only major hiccup was that the staff at Planet Organic are not as knowledgeable about local food and where their products come from.

As for my physical training it's been a little slow the last couple of days I've just felt really drained and like my body doesn't want to listen to my brain I think more rest and now some good food is in order

Last Meal

2010-03-30T19:36:00.000-07:00

It's been something that we have been talking about more and more, my girlfriend and I, is our upcoming last meal. Food supplies have been dwindling in the house as we let the food that isn't from within the 100 mile zone run out in preparation of probably one of the hardest goals on my UBBT list. The 100 mile diet.

The premise is simple starting April 1st for 100 days no food that has been grown or produced 100 miles from where you live. It really does sound simple until you actually think about it and realize how much food travels to get to your plate.

Once you think about how far your food travels think about how little you know about the whole food process in general. Those cryptic ingredients on your food packaging that to the conditions of your cow before it went to slaughter are all things that we have learned to just push to the back of our minds.

As for our last meal we have settled on a restaurant that uses all organic and mostly local ingredients might as well start off right

balance

2010-03-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Lots of training especially over this last week i seemed to have found more time to step up my efforts as my focus has been sharpened. At the same time I seem to be missing out on alot of things. Like breakfast for example (I often train right through it). But between working two jobs and Kung Fu i find very little time for personal relationships. I think this week it's going to be a conscious effort to spend time with my girlfriend, maybe bake some cookies and go for a walk

work and food and me not being creative with my titles

2010-03-15T22:52:00.000-07:00

The Last two days have been awesome even though I am exhausted and just want to sleep. Went on an awesome bike ride yesterday after going with Jon to get our bikes fixed. An ordeal that took entirely too long for my liking but needed to be done then tonight two really great Kung Fu classes, which an hour before I felt like I just wanted to sleep and not go. I'm glad I pushed myself to going I know I would have really regretted skipping class tonight.

On separate and completely random note took my global foot print test and scored a 6.8 putting me under the national average of 7.1 not great but a start and with April 1st and my hundred mile diet approaching that number will surely drop

Craig Janzen
Edmonton, Alberta
Silent River Kung Fu

?

2010-03-08T21:07:00.000-08:00

First off I would like to say thank you too which ever team member who included me for there anonymous act of kindness towards a team member. It was greatly appreciated.

This last week has been a long week. Not as productive as I would have liked but I did get the ball rolling on some projects. I also had the horrible misfortune of my computer deciding that it would no longer recognize it's hard drive. This made me realize a couple things. a) We are much to reliant on our computers b) I really should have backed up and/or printed alot of the photos on my computer (over 2000 photos conservatively estimated) and c) I hate computers.

Yes computers make our lives so much easier and open the doors of our global village, but what about our real villages, our neighborhoods? How many people know their neighbors? Maybe it's just me since I live downtown in a less than desirable environment who knows.

Anyways I lost my train of thought and should probably go

coming to you live from my underground hideout

2010-03-02T17:48:00.000-08:00

so not really a hideout but in actuality a studio. After being sick and sleeping for the entirety of Monday. Not how I wanted to spend my Monday since I missed class which sets me behind on my goal of getting my Sihing by the end of March.

Last week I did manage to start the wheels going on two fundraising projects. One through work that involves zombies and a car wash and the other will be an art show with live music. More details on each as well I get the details myself

14 hours

2010-02-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

SO just passing my 14th hour of work today and bummed out cause i had to miss kung fu tonight. Since I've been back it seems my drive has been multiplied being in class seems to fix any bad day. Motivation is even higher after seeing the new Sifus get their belts. Congratulations to all of them.

so tired

2010-02-16T22:19:00.000-08:00

This has been a long week (I mean the last 7 days i realize it is only Tuesday) trying to balance all my requirements is proving to be quite the challenge. Working on one goal means that a couple are slipping behind. Good news is that I got one of my photo shoots done today, but I'm so tired i think I just need sleep as is I lost a day somehow and didn't realize that yesterday was Monday and not Sunday as I had thought so good night

Letting Go

2010-02-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

Today in class we worked on shoulder rolls which always is a fun class and a great way to feel like a little kid. Which leads me to my next point why is it kids can just jump for it and go not worrying that they may hurt themselves or that i might not work. Worst off it usually does work or they don't get hurt at least not as bad as they should. Everyone knows an adult jumping off a swing is most likely going to hurt themselves. Videos like this go viral on youtube almost everyday. Whats the difference?

"it's a lot easier to do something when you don't know it's impossible"

this is what I think is going on as soon as I think there is a small chance that what I am doing may hurt me i introduce doubt and fear which usually manifests itself into me hurting myself cause I psyched myself out if you may. It is this reason that I try and attempt everything with child's sense of fearlessness, which is not always easy. Part of growing up is learning that there are "limits" but if you learn to let go of at least some of your preconceived notions of what is possible who knows what you may be able to do

sick need sleep

2010-02-01T19:44:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be short as I am sick and am on my way to bed. After one month I am falling behind it seems as a I try and catch up on one thing three more fall behind. The schedule I had made for myself when I thought up my goals turned out to be completely implausible. I find I never have enough hours in my day to get everything done that I need to.

On a positive note even though I'm sick I managed to start off February with some decent numbers as I rework my schedule into something more manageable.

2010-01-25T08:01:00.000-08:00

I have a a lot on my mind right now how much i write about right now depends on a few things since I am at work and should be doing work related stuff (mondays are usually slow in the morning)

Food we all love it and we all need it but did you know if we were to be completely cut off, I mean Edmonton as a city being closed off so no one could get in and out, we would have enough food for three days. Or so I have read this number may differ by a couple days but I believe that it would still be less than a week. It should be no surprise though walk through your local grocery store and actually look where all your food is being shipped from. fruits and vegetables that grow locally are often shipped in from as near as the United States and as for off as another continent. What does that mean for you? For me I find that if asked to describe the taste of something, take a carrot for example, I would say it taste like a carrot and that's about it. Not like the carrots I remember as a kid freshly stolen from a neighbors garden, those carrots were tasty, fresh, crisp and juicy and full of flavor, flavor I sadly have forgotten. Unfortunately it has been so long since I have eaten an actual garden fresh carrot that I can only recall the taste of our standardized carrots from the store.

Taste aside there is another problem with our global food. It leaves a giant carbon foot print. all those resources used to bring you your "fresh" oranges from Mexico.

Where does this leave me? with a new requirement of coarse. Enter the 100 mile challenge. Only eat food that is found within a 100 miles of where you live. For 100 days starting April 1 I will cut out all global acquired food and eat locally only.

Why this will be hard and what I will miss:
Bread: probably one of the most challenging things about bread is that all the grains must have been grown within 100 miles

Fruit: Once again only local fruit so good bye some of my favorites and say hello to a lot berries.

and well just say good bye to: chocolate, coffee, salt, most fish, etc.
pretty much no eating out at all except for very few restaurants if I can find any.

there are a few exceptions mainly if you cannot find something within a new area that is within a 100 miles or if you are at a guests house and they do not have anything that you can eat.

well i probably wasted enough of your day and I should probably begin my work but I will leave an open invitation to one willing to join me on this challenge

2010-01-18T10:39:00.000-08:00

So as I input all my numbers this morning I realized that I had forgotten to write down 3 days worth of numbers. Valuable lesson If you don't write things down you probably will forget them which is what I did which is frustrating but I can only learn from this and keep moving forward and in the future make sure that I write down everything

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

I can't sleep anymore

2010-01-12T08:05:00.000-08:00

Yet again it seems my sleep cycle has slipped into non-existence. Just like when I was in college though then I had a reason to be wide awake at 3am and then awake to train at 7am the next day (well technically the same day but you know what I mean). What this means is that I have been living the last week of my life on average of 3-4 hours of sleep. Interestingly enough I have found that my creativity has started to increase but then again I always did my best work when the world was asleep. From experience I know that I am going to crash probably by the end of about week 2 and it seems that there is nothing that I can do to prevent this. Trying to work myself in exhaustion so I sleep doesn't work training just seems to give me more energy. Reading doesn't work either right now If i pick up a book before bed I will read straight through till the time my alarm goes off for my morning training. So I guess I'll just make use of all this extra time that I have. It's a good time for more rounds of Kempo.

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

An interesting start to the new year

2010-01-02T21:09:00.000-08:00

It's officially go time for UBBT 7 and the full impact of what this means is starting to dawn on me. 1000 reps of sits an push ups are down and I've already started to not only be more mindful of the random acts of kindness I do towards others but also too those done towards me.

The new year itself has been interesting already and I can say that I yet again survived the holiday season with only minor incidence. New years day found me helping push my girlfriends car out of the ditch which I happened to be riding in when it hit the ditch but luckily no one was hurt except the car. I also learned last night that if you hit the ditch the most help to really expect from passing motorist is to see if you have a cell phone.

In keeping with my goal of volunteering I took a trip to the Edmonton Humane Society today to see what is needed to become a volunteer. Turns out everything is done online now so going there only made me really want to take home a pet or two.

So all in all it's been a pretty good two days into the new year

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Schedules

2009-12-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

Schedules I hate them with a passion. I love the feeling of not knowing what is going to happen next just going with the flow this is fast becoming a problem though. If I want to get through my UBBT goals I am going to have to make at least a rough schedule. This has been made evident during Christmas where instead of training I ate lots of food and lazed around the house. This was to be somewhat expected after all getting any time to relax at Christmas is kind of a miracle itself, but with proper planning who knows how much more training I could have gotten in.

So onto making myself a schedule otherwise I know that I will drop the ball on something

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Fuel For Thought

2009-12-21T20:32:00.000-08:00

"Music has always been a matter of Energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel. I have always needed Fuel. I am a serious consumer. On some nights I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about fifty more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio.
-Hunter S Thompson-

It was bag class last week and if your wondering what Hunter S Thompson and bag class have in common it's music. Bag classes always leave me dead tired and in need of a good shower by the end of them. Usually by about half way through them I'm feeling like I have nothing to give but then the right song comes on, something high energy and fast, and my body seems to ignore that my brain is saying I have nothing left to give. From seemingly nowhere new energy flows through me and I am able push myself to a new level.

Music has the same effect for almost every other aspect of my life whether it is design, photography, driving, reading or even training if ever I feel that I am not able to keep going I find a good song turn it up and push on through. I cannot explain how or why this works though I assume that it is mostly a reaction to beats and rhythm affecting on a primal level but knowing that it works will be a strong tool in helping me train.

Oh and for the record I used to hate bag classes but now I enjoy them. They are a great way for me to see how far away I am from where I want to be while being an instrument in acheiving my goals

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

Christmas is the season to give

2009-12-14T01:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend was marked the second annual Help Portrait day. Help Portrait for those who are unaware of it much as I was up until last Tuesday is is an international event were photographers gather and volunteer their time to take portraits for individuals who would normally not be able to afford such a service. On hand also are hair and make-up to help make the individuals look and feel their best.

Originally I had not volunteered to help in fact if it wasn't for my girlfriend being involved I would not have even known it was taking place, but she did volunteer which meant that I was volunteering. It was a bit of a balancing act with my schedule that day since that was the only free day I had for Christmas shopping but I managed to get most of that done and be back to help edit photos.

The best part about the day was seeing all the people walk out with prints that they would be able to share with their families. It was surprising to see how something so little as getting a portrait or a family picture taken could bring so much joy which is when I realized that being a photographer I tend to take this for granted. Overall the day was very fulfilling and I know that everyone involved took home something from the experience.

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada

a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

2009-12-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

So as I sit here on my lunch break and enjoy my soup I've decided that now is the perfect time to take the first step of my journey and post my first blog entry. I've thought a lot about what is required of me to get through the UBBT hopefully in one piece. The biggest thing is keeping in touch with my team which after reading through blogs from my teammates seems to be what others feel too.

I look forward to growing with all of you and getting to know each of you better.

But now I should get back to work since my break is done (this post took a long time to write due to me starting over several times.

Craig Janzen . Silent River Kung Fu . Stony Plain, Alberta, Canada